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The number of diagnostic and interventional medical procedures using ionising radiations is rising steadily, and procedures resulting in higher patient and staff doses are being performed more frequently. As such, the need for education and training of medical staff (including medical students) and other healthcare professionals in the principles of radiation protection is even more compelling than in the past. The Commission has made basic recommendations for such education and training of these individuals in ICRP Publications 103 and 105 (ICRP, 2007a,b). The present publication expands considerably on these basic recommendations with regard to various categories of medical practitioners and other healthcare professionals who perform or provide support for diagnostic and interventional procedures utilising ionising radiation and nuclear medicine therapy.
During their occupational activities in space, astronauts are exposed to ionising radiation from natural radiation sources present in this environment. They are, however, not usually classified as being occupationally exposed in the sense of the general ICRP system for radiation protection of workers applied on Earth. The exposure assessment and risk-related approach described in this report is clearly restricted to the special situation in space, and should not be applied to any other exposure situation on Earth. The report describes the terms and methods used to assess the radiation exposure of astronauts, and provides data for the assessment of organ doses.
The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has developed and systematically updated the system of radiological protection, which now recommends optimisation of protection measures within or guided by appropriate restrictions, such as dose constraints or reference levels, in all circumstances. This applies to all exposure situations (planned, emergency and existing) and all categories of exposure (occupational, medical, and public). Optimisation of protection is intended to reduce exposures to levels that are as low as reasonably achievable, economic and societal considerations being taken into account, and to manage medical exposures commensurate with the medical purpose.
ICRP Publication 74 provides an extensive and authoritative set of data linking the operational quantities defined by ICRU with the dosimetric and protection quantities defined by ICRP. The operational quantities provide a satisfactory basis for most of the measurements for radiation protection against external radiations. In those cases where it is not so, the data given in the report provides a basis for designing special measurement programmes, properly interpreting their results and relating them to the protection quantities. The report should be useful to operational health physicists, medical physicists and those involved in the calibration of instruments and personal dosimetry.
This report provides a review of stem cells/progenitor cells and their responses to ionising radiation in relation to issues relevant to stochastic effects of radiation which form a major part of the ICRP system of radiological protection. Current information on stem cell characteristics, maintenance and renewal, evolution with age, location in stem cell “niches”, radiosensitivity to acute and protracted exposures, is presented in a series of substantial reviews as Annexes concerning haematopoietic tissue, mammary gland, thyroid, digestive tract, lung, skin and bone. This foundation of knowledge of stem cells is used in the main text of the report to provide a biological insight to issues such as the linear-no-threshold (LNT) model, cancer risk among tissues, dose-rate effects and changes in the risk of radiation carcinogenesis by age at exposure and attained age.
ICRP Publication 75 reports comprehensively on the principles for the protection of workers from ionising radiation. It develops guidance on the implementation of the principles in the 1990 Recommendations of the ICRP (ICRP Publication 60), including the concepts of constraint and reference levels. The report discusses the management of occupational exposure in normal and emergency situations, in Industrial and medical contexts, and with respect to natural sources of radiation, including radon, at work. Health surveillance of workers and the management of overexposed individuals are considered. This report updates ICRP Publication 28 with respect to principles and procedures for handling emergency and accidental exposures of workers, and, by laying out the principles of monitoring for external radiation, completely replaces ICRP Publication 35. Monitoring for radionuclide contamination is also discussed. The report should also be of interest to a wide readership including all those responsible for occupational health, at operational and managerial levels, as well as regulatory bodies and professional organisations.
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In the aftermath of an attack, the main aim of radiological protection must be to prevent the occurrence of acute health effects attributable to radiation exposure (termed 'deterministic' effects) and to restrict the likelihood of late health effects (termed 'stochastic' effects) such as cancers and some hereditable diseases. A supplementary aim is to minimise environmental contamination from radioactive residues and the subsequent general disruption of daily life. The report notes that action taken to avert exposures is a much more effective protective measure than protective measure the provision of medical treatment after exposure has occurred. Responders involved in recovery, remediation...