Cohort profile: radiotherapy dataset (RTDS) in England.

Purpose: The purpose of the Radiotherapy Dataset (RTDS) is to collect consistent and comparable data across all providers of National Health Service (NHS)-funded radiotherapy and to provide intelligence for service planning, commissioning, clinical practice and research.

Participants: The RTDS is a mandated dataset requiring providers to collect and submit data monthly for patients treated in England. Data is available from 01 April 2009 to 2 months behind the calendar month.

Radiation exposures in pregnancy, health effects and risks to the embryo/foetus-information to inform the medical management of the pregnant patient.

Generally, intentional exposure of pregnant women is avoided as far as possible in both medical and occupational situations. This paper aims to summarise available information on sources of radiation exposure of the embryo/foetus primarily in medical settings. Accidental and unintended exposure is also considered.

IPEM topical report: the first UK survey of dose indices from radiotherapy treatment planning computed tomography scans for adult patients.

CT scans are an integral component of modern radiotherapy treatments, enabling the accurate localisation of the treatment target and organs-at-risk, and providing the tissue density information required for the calculation of dose in the treatment planning system. For these reasons, it is important to ensure exposures are optimised to give the required clinical image quality with doses that are as low as reasonably achievable. However, there is little guidance in the literature on dose levels in radiotherapy CT imaging either within the UK or internationally.