Establishment Institutional Diagnostic Reference Levels for Nuclear Medicine at King Fahd Hospital of the University in Al Khobar

Abstract

Nuclear Medicine (NM) is commonly used to diagnose various diseases. Despite its benefits to the patients, the dosage must be reasonably low to protect against the harmful effects that might be involved. Diagnostic reference level (DRLs) are tools for dose optimization during NM scans. This study aims to study different methods that might affect institutional DRLs (IDRLs) values for various NM diagnostic examinations for adult and pediatric patients at King Fahad Hospital of the University (KFHU) in Al Khobar, then the IDRLs was established based on the appropriate methods. A checklist was designed to collect the data of the patients and NM scanning parameters. In addition, a retrospective and prospective study method was used to collect the data from the NM unit. Data sets for 418 (341 for adult and 77 pediatric) for NM procedures were analyzed statistically by SPSS. The models were established for including at least 10 patients in each scan. The patient’s criteria for adults were without applying weight conditions and different weights or age ranges for pediatric. IDRLs were defined as the mean value of administered activities (AAs) MBq for adult and minimum AAs (AAsmin) either different weights or ages ranges for pediatric. IDRLs for KFHU were similar or slightly different from the literature review. These variations could be because of the diversity of examination protocols, NM scanners, and medical staff skills. Based on this study, the author hoped Saudi authorities to adopt establishing NDRLs to cover all NM hospitals in the country.