Estimated collective effective dose to the population from nuclear medicine examinations in Slovenia

BACKGROUND: A national survey of patient exposure from nuclear medicine diagnostic procedures was performed by Slovenian Radiation Protection Administration in order to estimate their contribution to the collective effective dose to the population of Slovenia. METHODS: A set of 36 examinations with the highest contributions to the collective effective dose was identified. Data about frequencies and average administered activities of radioisotopes used for those examinations were collected from all nuclear medicine departments in Slovenia. A collective effective dose to the population and an effective dose per capita were estimated from the collected data using dose conversion factors. RESULTS: The total collective effective dose to the population from nuclear medicine diagnostic procedures in 2011 was estimated to 102 manSv, giving an effective dose per capita of 0.05 mSv. CONCLUSIONS: The comparison of results of this study with studies performed in other countries indicates that the nuclear medicine providers in Slovenia are well aware of the importance of patient protection measures and of optimisation of procedures.