Do you have the X-factor: Paediatric diagnostic nuclear medicine dosage selection in Ireland?

Abstract

Nuclear Medicine departments have a duty to optimise diagnostic radiopharmaceutical doses to ensure lowest radiation dose whilst still providing satisfactory diagnostic quality images. This is even more important for Paediatric patients, when compared to Adult patients, due to their increased sensitivity to ionising radiation. A one size fits all approach does not work in paediatric patients as there is a large variability in size among this patient population. Diagnostic Radiopharmaceutical doses should be tailored to each individual paediatric patient, however there are several dose calculation methods available: for example weight or body surface area based dosage, ARSAC Notes for Guidance scaling fractions and EANM/North American Guidelines dosage card [1] , [2] , [3] .This research aims to present the dose calculation methods, highlight the advantages and drawbacks that may be associated with each method, and discuss what methods are in present paediatric clinical practice in Nuclear Medicine Departments in the Republic of Ireland.