Preface

Article Outline

• Copyright

Over the years, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), referred to below as ‘the Commission’, has issued many reports providing advice on radiological protection and safety in medicine. Its Publication 73 is a general overview of this area. These reports summarise the general principles of radiation protection and provide advice on the application of those principles to the various uses of ionising radiation in medicine and biomedical research.

Most of these reports are of a general nature, and the Commission wishes to address some specific situations where difficulties have been observed. It is desirable that reports on such problem areas be written in a style which is accessible to those who may be directly concerned in their daily work, and that every effort is taken to ensure wide circulation of such reports.

A first step in this direction was taken at the Commission's meeting in Oxford, United Kingdom, in September 1997. At that time, on the recommendation of ICRP Committee 3, the Commission established several Task Groups to produce reports on topical issues in medical radiation protection.

Some such reports have now appeared in print, and the present one is the result of the work of yet another one of those Task Groups. The terms of reference of this Task Group on Control of Radiation Dose in Computed Tomography were to prepare a report highlighting the increasing frequency and radiation doses in computed tomography and documenting the steps necessary to manage the radiation dose. The Task Group was requested to address the various levels that need to be involved in dose management, including those of manufacturer, operator, radiologist, and referring physician.

The membership of the Task Group was as follows:

Corresponding members were:

Numerous helpful comments were received from interested parties through the Commission's customary public consultation via the Internet.

The membership of Committee 3 during the period of preparation of this report was:

This report aims to serve the purposes described above. In order to be as useful as possible for those purposes, its style differs in a few respects from the usual style of the Commission's publications in the Annals of the ICRP.

The report was approved for publication by the Commission in October 2000.