National Cancer Institute dosimetry system for Computed Tomography (NCICT) Computer Program

About half of the per capita dose of radiation due to medical exposures is provided by computed tomography (CT) examinations. Approximately 80 million CTs are performed annually in the United States. CT scans most commonly look for internal bleeding or clots, abscesses due to infection, tumors and internal structures. Although CT provides great patient benefit, concerns exist about potential associated risks from radiation doses – especially in pediatric patients more sensitive to radiation. Better understanding of the magnitude of radiation dose delivered during CT examinations is crucial to estimate risks and make an informed clinical decisions. However, calculating organ radiation doses to be delivered to patients is complicated.

To address these challenges, Dr. Choonsik Lee from the NCI developed a novel computer program with a graphical user interface (GUI) to interactively estimate radiation dose to the organs of patients undergoing CT examinations. The computer program provides radiation dose to 30 different radiosensitive organs and tissues in the human body by using data entered by users. These data include patient characteristics (age and sex) and CT scan data (scanner model and technical parameters). The calculation algorithm in the program is based on multiple datasets with international standard, human anatomy, and dosimetry data. Potential users of this computer program would include radiologists, clinical/research medical physicists, physicians, epidemiologists and other medical professionals.

The NCI dosimetry system for Computed Tomography (NCICT) successfully converts existing CT scanner output – very simple to obtain – into organ radiation doses. NCICT makes it possible for vendors to incorporate this software program into their patient dose-monitoring systems. The NCI seeks licensees interested in estimating radiation doses and potential risks to the organs of CT patients

Competitive Advantages:

• Easily implemented within the existing commercial solutions
• Estimates organ doses for pediatric and adult patients with various body sizes and pregnant women
• Runs on standard Windows, Macintosh, and LINUX operating systems

Commercial Applications:

• Radiation dose calculations for computed tomography examinations
• Components can be incorporated with NCIDose software into a commercial platform: NCICT program, computational human phantom series (human anatomy models, electronic files), CT scanner simulation model, and organ dose library (tabulated numbers)