We developed a free iOS application, RADiDOC, with the goal of simplifying the complex subject of medical radiation risk for pediatric patients and their parents. Utilization of medical imaging has risen over the past decade, making the topic of radiation safety an increasingly important issue that is increasingly featured in the popular media. Furthermore, given the unique risk profile of radiation exposure in the pediatric age group, there has been increased focus on the judicious use of ionizing radiation in the imaging of children. These efforts have resulted in the Image Gently campaign, which has offered an immense contribution to pediatric radiation safety issues. In keeping with these efforts, we created the RADiDOC application to help pediatric patients and their parents understand key radiation safety information in a simple, intuitive way. To meet these ends, RADiDOC was created with three core functionality modes: (1) Consultation, (2) Radiation Log, and (3) Radiation 101. Consultation mode allows users to explore a multitude of imaging studies and image-guided procedures and learn about their associated radiation risk, including quantitative cancer risk estimated using the BIER VII dataset. To be more meaningful to patients, dose is described not only in terms of “effective dose” and its associated ACR category, but also in terms of intuitive measures such as the equivalent number of transatlantic flights and days of natural sun exposure. The Radiation Log mode allows patients or their parents to log additive radiation risk from all imaging received in their lifetime, creating a longitudinal radiation log of lifetime exposure. This may be of particular interest to pediatric oncology patients who receive long-term serial imaging. Finally, Radiation 101 offers a primer on the basics of radiation safety and radiation physics aimed at a broad audience of laypeople. RADiDOC offers a free resource to facilitate the discussion of radiation risk between pediatric radiologists, clinicians, pediatric patients, and their parents. In this Technical Development presentation, we review key radiation safety concepts and elaborate on the core functionalities of this application and how it can be of use to pediatrics radiologists and their patients. Read More

Meeting name: SPR 2017 Annual Meeting & Categorical Course , 2017

Authors: Seals Kevin, Tesoriero Joseph, Cagnon Christopher, Boechat Ines, Ghahremani Shahnaz, Iskander Paul

Keywords: Radiation, Radiation Dose, Radiation Safety