Re: A question of ethics

[Ccja@aol.com]

All please note that it is vastly easier to do "real" dose estimates for
patients in nuclear medicine, by which I mean giving them a single figure
that reflects some sort of effective dose equivalent, than in the other
branches of radiology. Usually what people quote to fulfill the requirements
of the Joint Commission on Health Care Orgs. is the entrance exposure
free-in-air which is a much larger number that really should only be used for
the purposes of quality assurance. I'm aware of the controversy around using
the EDE in this context, but we have nothing else comparable (to my
knowledge), the ICRP has endorsed it (cf. Publication 53), and the NRC
mandates its use (cf. 10CFR35.2) in nuclear medicine. The FDA and the States'
x-ray control units have not yet endorsed the use of an EDE, nor are the data
readily available to do the calculations, as they are for nuc med, thanks to
Mike Stabin, Keith Eckerman and the rest of the crew in Oak Ridge.