The IAEA has published two new Safety Guides in French, which contain detailed recommendations and guidance for improving radiation protection. The first targets patients undergoing radiological diagnostic and treatment procedures, the second targets people exposed to radiation in the context of their work. These two guides are also intended to support the application of another IAEA publication, entitled Radiation Protection and Safety of Radiation Sources: International Basic Safety Standards.
Safety Guide No.oh SSG-46, titled Radiation protection and radiation safety in medical applications of ionizing radiationprovides detailed recommendations on how to enhance radiation protection and radiation safety in medical applications of ionizing radiation, explains Mr.me Jenia Vassileva, radiation protection specialist at the IAEA.
“We hope that this new safety guide on radiation protection will answer questions related to procedures and methods aimed at enhancing the radiation protection of patients,” she adds. “It includes structured orientations on specific areas of diagnostic radiology and interventional procedures under imaging, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy. »
The medical use of radiation has considerable health benefits. Each year, some 3.6 billion radiodiagnostic and interventional radiology procedures, more than 30 million nuclear medicine procedures and more than 5 million radiotherapeutic treatments are performed worldwide.
Misused, ionizing radiation can have harmful effects, underlines Mme Vasileva. One of the main objectives of this guide is to help countries establish effective radiation protection systems for all medical applications of ionizing radiation and to improve existing systems by applying general good medical practice.
“The safety guide noh SSG-46 is primarily intended for end users in medical radiology facilities where radiology procedures are performed, including managers, practicing radiologists, medical radiology technicians and other healthcare professionals who attend to patients during procedures. of radiology,” says Mr.me Vasileva.
This guide is the result of close collaboration between the IAEA and its Member States, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labor Office (ILO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). It replaces the publication entitled Radiological protection relating to medical exposure to ionizing radiation (IAEA Safety Standards Series, No.oh RS-G-1.5, 2002) and several safety reports published by the IAEA in 2005 and 2006.