title: Personnel radiation dose considerations in the use of an integrated PET-CT scanner for radiotherapy treatment planning.
abstract: The acquisition of radiotherapy planning scans on positron emission tomography (PET)-CT scanners requires the involvement of radiotherapy radiographers. This study assessed the radiation dose received by these radiographers during this process. Radiotherapy planning (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) PET-CT scans were acquired for 28 non-small cell lung cancer patients. In order to minimise the radiation dose received, a two-stage process was used in which the most time-consuming part of the set-up was performed before the patient received their (18)F-FDG injection. Throughout this process, the radiographers wore electronic personal dosemeters and recorded the doses received at different stages of the process. The mean total radiation dose received by a radiotherapy radiographer was 5.1+/-2.6 microSv per patient. The use of the two-stage process reduced the time spent in close proximity to the patient by approximately a factor of four. The two-stage process was effective in keeping radiation dose to a minimum. The use of a pre-injection set-up session reduces the radiation dose to the radiotherapy radiographers because of their involvement in PET-CT radiotherapy treatment planning scans by approximately a factor of three.
authors.affiliation: Medical Physics Agency, Royal Group of Hospitals, Grosvenor Road, and Radiation Oncology, Belfast. kathryn.carson@mpa.n-i.nhs.uk
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Carson
authors.forename: V A L
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Cosgrove
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Jarritt
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Hounsell