Quality Criteria Development within the Fourth Framework Research Programme: Computed Tomography

The Quality Criteria concept has recently been extended to Computed Tomography with the European Guidelines on Quality Criteria for CT (EUR 16262) produced under the 4th Framework Research Programme in a Concerted Action. The adaptation of the quality criteria to CT has become necessary due to the relatively high collective dose which derives from CT within Europe, where in some countries it accounts for more than one third of the total collective dose from diagnostic X ray examinations, whilst representing only about 2-4% of all examinations. The Guidelines include diagnostic requirements specifying anatomical/diagnostic image quality criteria for six main groups of examinations: cranium, face and neck, spine, chest, abdomen and pelvis, and bones and joints. The image criteria refer to characteristic features of imaged anatomical structures with a specific degree of visibility. Two diagnostic reference dose quantities have been defined on the basis of measurements of the Computed Tomography Dose Index. (author)