Swiss survey on hybrid imaging CTs doses in Nuclear Medicine and proposed national dose reference levels

A multidisciplinary working group led by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health was formed to plan and perform a nationwide survey of patient radiation exposure from computed tomography (CT) in hybrid devices across Nuclear Medicine departments. The survey included 16 departments (of which 5 were university hospitals) and the submitted responses included 10,673 entries for the 33 different protocols proposed (11 in PET and 22 in SPECT). The working group determined the selection and exclusion criteria applied to the analysis. This work presents the survey preparation and data analysis including the exclusion criteria used. The results are used to inform recommendations for National Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRL) for CT procedures in Nuclear Medicine in Switzerland. Of the 33 protocols initially proposed, 10 protocols for both PET and SPECT modalities were retained after exclusion criteria and thresholds were applied. The results obtained in terms of volume-weighted computed tomography dose index (CTDIvol) and dose length product (DLP) have been put forward as recommendations for national Diagnostic Reference Levels for protocols in hybrid imaging devices in Nuclear Medicine in Switzerland and will be published by the Federal Office of Public Health.