Radiation is being widely used inappropriately in medical diagnosis and an international response is required because of the magnitude of the problem say participants of a joint IAEA/European Community workshop that concluded last week. The event was held in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO).
Experts from 40 countries attending the workshop agreed that reliance on technology in medicine is increasing, radiation doses are becoming higher and there are serious "knowledge deficits" among health professionals.
The rate at which radiation is used unnecessarily is in the range of 30 percent the workshop participants were told.
During the event, it also emerged that the traditional approach to communication of radiation dose and risk among referring physicians and radiological practitioners has been ineffective and a new initiative to standardise a new simple approach should be undertaken. But experts also said that radiological diagnosis is a vital tool that has saved countless lives allowing doctors to detect hidden diseases and make ever more accurate diagnoses.
The workshop was part of a collaborative global initiative the IAEA is taking with other international organizations to developing a series of measures aimed at strengthening radiation protection of patient.
Background
The IAEA is one of the key international players in the field of patient radiation protection. A unit dedicated to the Radiation Protection of Patients (RPoP) was established in 2001.