ICRP - nuclear medicine perspective

Since the discovery of X-rays and radioactivity more than 100 years ago, many different applications of radiation and radioactive materials have been developed. Nuclear medicine is one such application that involves use of radioactive sources for the purpose of diagnosis and therapy. There has been rapid increase in the annual frequency of diagnostic procedures due to introduction of hybrid imaging PET-CT and SPECT-CT to conventional nuclear medicine procedures and diagnostic radiology and hence contributing significantly to the population exposure. A benefit from the use of radiation was established very early but the potential risks of radiation became apparent much latter. The details regarding the evolution of Radiation Protection System, various exposure situations, categories of exposures, ICRP Principles of Radiation Protection and the 2007 Recommendations of ICRP relevant to nuclear medicine would be presented during the lecture