Practical Radiation Protection in Healthcare

The application of radiation to medical problems plays an ever-increasing role in diagnosis and treatment of disease. It is essential that medical physicists have the knowledge, understanding and practical skills to implement radiation protection as new techniques are developed. Practical Radiation Protection in Healthcare provides a practical guide for medical physicists and others involved with radiation protection in the healthcare environment. The guidance is based on principles set out in current recommendations of the International Commission for Radiological Protection and methods developed by a variety of professional bodies.

Written by practitioners experienced in the field this practical reference manual covers both established techniques and new areas of application. This new edition has be fully revised and updated to cover new requirements linked to the increased knowledge of radiation effects, and the development of new technology. Each specialist area is covered in a separate chapter to allow easy reference with individual chapters being assigned to different types of non-ionising radiations. Tabulated data is included to allow the reader to carry out calculations for situations encountered frequently without reference to further texts.

Colin J Martin, Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Glasgow, UK,David G Sutton, Head of Medical Physics Department, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, UK

Colin Martin has worked as a hospital-based Medical Physicist in Radiation Protection and Diagnostic Radiology in Scotland for 30 years. He is now an honorary senior lecturer with the University of Glasgow, UK. His research has involved radiation protection in medicine, optimisation of radiation protection in diagnostic radiology and non-ionising radiations. Dr Martin is a member of Committee 3 of ICRP (Protection in Medicine) and of IAEA committees, and has been involved in medical exposure projects as an expert for the IAEA. He is a member of Editorial Boards for the Journal of Radiological Protection and Radiation Protection Dosimetry.

David Sutton has worked as a hospital-based Medical Physicist for over 30 years. His work and research has involved the physics of nuclear medicine, radiation protection in medicine, and the optimisation of radiation protection in diagnostic radiology. Dr Sutton is chair of the UK radiation protection accreditation body RPA2000, has been involved in several UK medical physics initiatives and has acted as an expert for the IAEA. He is an associate editor of the British Journal of Radiology.

Part I. Ionising Radiations: Hazards, Detection and Measurement
1. The Development of Radiation Protection, C J Martin
2. Interaction of Ionising Radiations with Matter, C J Martin and D Sutton
3. Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation, C J Martin and A Wojcik
4. Radiation Measurements, S Green and R G Zamenhof
Part II. Protection Against Ionising Radiations
5. Ionising Radiation Legislation, C J Martin, P Allisy-Roberts and J Le Heron
6. Principles and Control Methods, K E Goldstone Operational Radiation Protection
7. Operational Radiation Protection, D G Sutton
8. Personal Monitoring, D H Temperton
9. Control of Radioactive Substances, Jill Reay and David Sutton
10. Intervention, Incidents and Emergencies, C J Martin and J Robertson
Part III. Ionising Radiation in Medicine and Research
11. Risk Control in Medicine, C J Martin and D G Sutton
12. Diagnostic Radiology: Equipment, J R Williams
13. Diagnostic Radiology: Facility, D G Sutton and C J Martin
14. Diagnostic Radiology: Patient Dosimetry, C J Martin and D G Sutton
15. CT Dosimetry, C L Chapple and I McLean
16. Interventional Radiology, C J Martin and D G Sutton
17. Nuclear Medicine and Radionuclide Laboratories, S Batchelor and B Walmsley
18. The Nuclear Medicine Patient, C Greaves and M J Dunn
19. Radiotherapy: External Beam Therapy, D Peet, P Horton, D G Sutton and C J Martin
20. Radiotherapy: Brachytherapy, D Peet, P Horton, D G Sutton and C J Martin
Part IV. Non-Ionising Radiation
21. Lasers, H Moseley
22. Non-Coherent Optical Radiation Sources, D K Taylor
23. Electromagnetic Fields, J W Hand
24. Magnetic Resonance, B Condon and J MacFarlane
25. Ultrasound, S D Pye and B Zequri