Patient doses from medical examinations in Russia: 2009-2015.

The aim of this study was to evaluate adult patient doses in Russia in the context of patient protection. Effective doses from x-ray and nuclear medicine examinations were assessed using two approaches. The first was based on data collection performed by the authors in hospitals in St.

INVESTIGATION OF PARTIAL VOLUME EFFECT IN DIFFERENT PET/CT SYSTEMS: A COMPARISON OF RESULTS USING THE MADEIRA PHANTOM AND THE NEMA NU-2 2001 PHANTOM.

Positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography (PET/CT) is a quantitative technique used for diagnosing various diseases and for monitoring treatment response for different types of tumours. However, the accuracy of the data is limited by the spatial resolution of the system. In addition, the so-called partial volume effect (PVE) causes a blurring of image structures, which in turn may cause an underestimation of activity of a structure with high-activity content.

Russian practical guidance on radiological support for justification of X-ray and nuclear medicine examinations.

An important part of the justification process is assessment of the radiation risks caused by exposure of a patient during examination. The authors developed official national methodology both for medical doctors and sanitary inspectors called 'assessment of radiation risks of patients undergoing diagnostic examinations with the use of ionizing radiation'. The document addresses patients of various age groups and a wide spectrum of modern X-ray and nuclear medicine examinations.

Nuclear medicine examinations of children in Russia.

The number and specification of radionuclide examinations, administrated activity and effective doses were collected during 2011-13 for 4944 paediatric patients from 10 nuclear medicine (NM) departments of some Russian regions. The kidney examinations account for about 70 % of paediatric NM examinations in general hospitals. Diagnostics of all other organs contribute from 2 to 8 % each in the total number of paediatric examinations.

Release criteria for patients having undergone radionuclide therapy and criteria for their crossing the state border of the Russian Federation.

By means of a conservative dosimetry model, the values of operational radiological criteria for patients released from hospital--residual activity in a body and dose rate near the patient's body--are substantiated based on the effective dose limit of 5 mSv for persons helping the patient or living with him and 1 mSv for other adults and children. Two sets of operative criteria for radionuclides (125)I, (131)I, (153)Sm and (188)Re used in Russia for radionuclide therapy were derived. Release criteria for (125)I well differ from such values in other countries because in this work absorption of (125)I low-energy photon radiation in the patient was taken into account.

Measurements of long-term external and internal radiation exposure of inhabitants of some villages of the Bryansk region of Russia after the Chernobyl accident.

A Nordic-Soviet programme was initiated in 1990 to evaluate the external and internal radiation exposure of the inhabitants of several villages in the Bryansk region of Russia. This area was one of the number of areas particularly affected by the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986. Measurements were carried out yearly until 1998 and after that more irregularly; in 2000, 2006 and 2008 respectively.

Reconstruction of radiation doses in a case-control study of thyroid cancer following the Chernobyl accident.

A population-based case-control study of thyroid cancer was carried out in contaminated regions of Belarus and Russia among persons who were exposed during childhood and adolescence to fallout from the Chernobyl accident. For each study subject, individual thyroid doses were reconstructed for the following pathways of exposure: (1) intake of 131I via inhalation and ingestion; (2) intake of short-lived radioiodines (132I, 133I, and 135I) and radiotelluriums (131mTe, 132Te) via inhalation and ingestion; (3) external dose from radionuclides deposited on the ground; and (4) ingestion of 134Cs and 137Cs. A series of intercomparison exercises validated the models used for reconstruction of average doses to populations of specific age groups as well as of individual doses.

Validation of 131I ecological transfer models and thyroid dose assessments using Chernobyl fallout data from the Plavsk district, Russia.

Within the project "Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety" (EMRAS) organized by the IAEA in 2003 experimental data of (131)I measurements following the Chernobyl accident in the Plavsk district of Tula region, Russia were used to validate the calculations of some radioecological transfer models. Nine models participated in the inter-comparison. Levels of (137)Cs soil contamination in all the settlements and (131)I/(137)Cs isotopic ratios in the depositions in some locations were used as the main input information.

Validation of environmental transfer models and assessment of the effectiveness of countermeasures using data on (131)I releases from Chernobyl.

The studies undertaken by the (131)I Working Group, part of the International Atomic Energy Agency's EMRAS (Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety) programme, were focused primarily on evaluating the predictive capability of environmental models. Particular emphasis was placed on applying models to evaluate the effectiveness of countermeasures.

Uncertainties in individual doses in a case-control study of thyroid cancer after the Chernobyl accident.

Individual radiation doses to the thyroid were reconstructed for 2239 subjects of a case-control study of thyroid cancer among young people that was carried out in regions of Belarus and Russia contaminated by radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident. Although the process of dose reconstruction provides a point estimate of each subject's dose, it is obvious that there is uncertainty associated with these dose calculations. The following main sources of uncertainty in the estimated individual doses were identified: (1) shared and unshared errors associated with parameters of the dosimetry model; and (2) unshared errors that are associated with the variability, reliability and ability of information from the personal interviews.

External and internal irradiation of a rural Bryansk (Russia) population from 1990 to 2000, following high deposition of radioactive caesium from the Chernobyl accident.

In 1990, a joint Nordic-Russian project was initiated in order to make independent estimations of the effective dose to selected groups of inhabitants in a highly contaminated area around the city of Novozybkov in the western Bryansk region of Russia. The inhabitants were living in six villages with initial contamination levels of (137)Cs between 0.9 and 2.

Risk of thyroid cancer after exposure to 131I in childhood.

Background: After the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in April 1986, a large increase in the incidence of childhood thyroid cancer was reported in contaminated areas. Most of the radiation exposure to the thyroid was from iodine isotopes, especially 131I. We carried out a population-based case-control study of thyroid cancer in Belarus and the Russian Federation to evaluate the risk of thyroid cancer after exposure to radioactive iodine in childhood and to investigate environmental and host factors that may modify this risk.

131I content in the human thyroid estimated from direct measurements of the inhabitants of Russian areas contaminated due to the Chernobyl accident.

The method of processing and the results of measurements of 131I content in the thyroids of Russian people performed in May-June 1986 are presented. The contribution of radiation from Cs radionuclides in the human body was taken into account in the processing of measurement data with an SRP-68-01 device. The greatest individual 131I content was found in the thyroids of inhabitants of the Bryansk region, up to 250-350 kBq, and in the Tula and Orel regions, up to 100 kBq.

Contributions of short-lived radioiodines to thyroid doses received by evacuees from the Chernobyl area estimated using early in vivo activity measurements.

A series of in vivo gamma spectrometric measurements of 65 people evacuated from Pripyat 1.5 days after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Unit 4 explosion was performed in St Petersburg, Russia, as early as 30 April 1986. The historical spectra and interviews were recently processed and the results used for thyroid dose estimation.

Long-term external radiation exposure of inhabitants in the western Bryansk region of Russia as a consequence of the Chernobyl accident.

The western Bryansk region in south-western Russia was highly contaminated with 137Cs and 134Cs due to the Chernobyl accident in 1986. In 1990, a joint Nordic-Russian project was initiated in order to make measurements and estimates of the absorbed doses to selected groups of inhabitants in this area. The participating individuals were living in small villages with contamination levels between 0.

Childhood exposure due to the Chernobyl accident and thyroid cancer risk in contaminated areas of Belarus and Russia.

The thyroid dose due to 131I releases during the Chernobyl accident was reconstructed for children and adolescents in two cities and 2122 settlements in Belarus, and in one city and 607 settlements in the Bryansk district of the Russian Federation. In this area, which covers the two high contamination spots in the two countries following the accident, data on thyroid cancer incidence during the period 1991-1995 were analysed in the light of possible increased thyroid surveillance. Two methods of risk analysis were applied: Poisson regression with results for the single settlements and Monte Carlo (MC) calculations for results in larger areas or sub-populations.

[Assessment of oncogenic risk of the irradiation of the thyroid gland in humans].

The paper deals with one of the most urgent aspects of irradiation hygiene, namely assessment of risk for irradiation-induced cancers of the thyroid. A model is described to predict high mortality rates of thyroidal cancer in the population due to the catastrophe at the Chernobyl Atomic Power Station. With the model, life-time risk rates involving sex and age at the moment of irradiation, as well as an irradiation mode.

[Radiation of the thyroid during examination of patients with thyroid diseases using radioactive iodine].

Basing on 131I uptake functions in the thyroid of 109 patients irradiation doses of this organ were evaluated for persons with normal iodine metabolism and in the following diseases: hypothyrosis, moderate thyrotoxicosis, nodular toxic and nontoxic goiter, vegetative neurosis. Maximum tolerant doses of 123I, 125I, 131I and 132I are recommended for diagnostic examination of thyroid function and scanning of this organ.

[Diagnostic value of various indices of the radioiodine accumulation test].

According to well documented histories a group of experts-endocrinologists determined the presence of one or another disease in 109 patients with different thyroid pathology. Two examinations were performed according to the clinical findings and on the basis of the same indices, added by results of the radioiodine test. Diagnostic informativity of different indices of the radioiodine test was evaluated according to the correlation (by means of calculation of the correlations) between the radiological parameter and the disease probability.