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Objective:To investigate the basic situation of clinical nuclear medicine resources and their application in medical institutions of Jiangsu province, in order to grasp their distribution characteristics and make an evaluation briefly on distribution eaquity of nuclear medicine resources and application.Methods:In the form of online questionnaire, the basic information in the medical institutions conducting clinical nuclear medicine diagnosis and treatment in the provice was collected, including the number and model of nuclear medicine equipment, the number of protection devices, the number of nuclear medicine employees and the application frequency of nuclear medicine.Results:In 2020 in Jiangsu province, there were 67 nuclear medicine institutions, 727 employees and 95 nuclear medicine tomography equipment including 38 positron emission tomography (PET) equipment and 54 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) equipment. The frequencies of imaging and treatment in the medical institutions were 259, 686 and 12 186, with average frequency of 3.21 expressed per 1 000 population. The Gini coefficients of nuclear medicine equipment, employees and application based on population distribution in Jangsu province were 0.25, 0.30 and 0.34, respectively. The related Theil indices were 0.044 9, 0.062 6 and 0.085 2, respectively.Conclusions:The nuclear medicine developed quickly in Jiangsu province in the past ten years. The distribution of all kinds of nuclear medicine resources and application on the basis of continuous increase showed a certain degree of imbalance, and correlation with the level of regional economic development.
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Objective To investigate the awareness, implementation, and application of the Radiation Shielding Specification for Radiotherapy Room, Part 3: Radiotherapy Room of γ-Ray Sources (GBZ/T201.3—2014) by medical institution personnel, to collect problems and recommendations, and to provide a scientific basis for further amendments and implementation of the standard. Methods A questionnaire survey about the awareness, training and application situation and the modification advices of the standard was conducted among practitioners engaged in the production, use, and machine room design related to γ-ray source radiotherapy equipment (collectively referred to as medical institution personnel) in 12 provinces and direct-administered municipalities in China. The questionnaires were collected and a special Excel database was set up for statistical analysis using SPSS 22.0. Results A total of 126 practitioners responded and completed the questionnaire. Approximately 75.4% of respondents indicated that they either “understood” or “understood well” the standard; 42.86% received relevant training; 45.24% and 54.76% indicated that the standard “met” or “basically met” the requirements of detection of γ-ray radiotherapy equipment shielding or design of shielding room. The standard was highly evaluated for suitability. However, the awareness of the standard was inadequate, the rate of training participation was low, and its practical application was limited. Conclusion The standard generally aligns with the requirements for shielding room design in γ-ray radiotherapy. Some revisions should be done according to the current situation of γ-ray radiotherapy.
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Objective To investigate the awareness of the Radiation Shielding Requirements for Radiotherapy Room–Part 2: Radiotherapy Room of Electron Linear Accelerators (GBZ/T 201.2—2011) among relevant practitioners in medical institutions as well as its implementation and application situation and collect relevant problems and suggestions for an evaluation of the scientificalness, standardization, and timeliness of the standard, and to provide a scientific basis for the further revision and implementation of the standard. Methods An online questionnaire survey was conducted among relevant employees in medical institutions providing medical linear accelerator radiotherapy across 22 provinces of China, which investigated the awareness, training, application, and revision suggestions related to GBZ/T 201.2—2011. The questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Results A total of 340 relevant practitioners filled out the questionnaire. Of the participants, 66.80% were physicists; 79.11% had an awareness of the standard; 56.18% ever participated in the standard-related training; but the survey results showed that the practitioners did not have a good knowledge of the standard’s content, and the training and promotion were not enough; 83.24% thought that the standard had been widely used; 17.60% thought that the standard needed to be revised; 76.76% thought that there was a need to add calculation examples; 88.82% thought that neutron shielding needed to be considered for the 10 MV X-ray accelerator room. Conclusion The standard has been widely known in the field of radiotherapy protection. With the development of radiotherapy technology, the standard should be revised to add calculation examples and consider neutron shielding in the 10 MV X-ray accelerator room. The standard is highly technical and difficult to grasp, so the promotion and implementation goals should be appropriate for different personnel groups, the training for employees at key posts should be strengthened, and the methods recommended in the standard should be uniformly used throughout the country.
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Objective To continue following up the cohort members in Jiangsu province who were the largest subgroup in Chinese medical X-ray workers cohort subgroups on radiation carcinogenesis and analysis the cancer risk of medical X-ray workers which might be induced by chronic low-dose ionizing radiation between 1997 and 2011.Methods A retrospective cohort study was utilized to accumulate data.Epicure was applied to compute cumulative person years (with module of Datab) and relative risk (including 95％ CI) of malignant tumor on exposed group(with module of AMFIT) while the factors such as sex and attained-age were adjusted in the cohort members.Results The 7 708 follow-up members included 3 668 medical X-ray workers.The cumulative person-year in the cohort members was 94 651.2 (1997-2011) and its lost rate was 5.79％.During the follow-up period,441 cases had became cancer patients.The relative risk of all cancers was 1.44 (95％ CI:1.18-1.75),so was the solid cancers.Significant elevated risks of cancer were found on lung (RR =1.95,95％ CI:1.30-2.92),esophagus (RR =3.04,95％ CI:1.20-7.70),lymphoma(RR =2.24,95％ CI:0.67-7.48),leukemia(RR =1.57,95 ％ CI:0.33-7.39),throat (RR =2.47) and thyroid (RR =2.80,95 ％ CI:0.24-32.26) among medical X-ray workers.However,The RR of malignant tumors might not be associated with occupational exposure to ionizing radiation if we considered the lost factors (RR =1.2,95％ CI:0.94-1.46)Conclusions The RR of malignant tumors such as the cancer on lung,esophagus,thyroid among the medical X-ray workers in Jiangsu province were enhanced which might be associated with occupational exposure to ionizing radiation.
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Objective To study the relationship between the risk of malignant tumor and occupational radiation factor among medical diagnostic X-ray workers in Jiangsu province.Methods The retrospective and prospective cohort studies were adopted to investigate the incidence of cancer.Eligible medical diagnostic X-ray workers from the department of radiology in hospitals were selected and assigned into exposure group,while other medical workers from the departments of Internal Medicine,Ear-NoseThroat (ENT) or Pediatrics who attended work at the same period in the same hospital but not engaged in radiation work were regarded as control group during 1950-2011 in Jiangsu province.We calculated the total person-year and analyzed the relative risk (RR) of malignant tumor using Poisson regression model.Results 7 703 participants (3 961 in exposed group and 3 742 in unexposed group) were recruited and followed up,with a total of 315 309 person years and the lost follow-up rate was 6.92％ (533/7 703).During the follow up period,a total of 819 tumor cases were identified (771 were malignant tumors).We found the significant relationship between the risk of malignant tumor and occupational radiation factor,and the RR of solid cancer and total malignant tumor were 1.31 (95％ CI:1.11-1.55) and 1.33 (95％ CI:1.13-1.57),respectively.In addition,the risk of lung cancer in medical diagnostic X-ray workers was significantly higher than that in control group (RR =1.45,95％ CI:1.00-2.09).Conclusions The incidence risk of lung cancer,solid caner and total malignant tumors in medical diagnostic X-ray workers was significantly higher than that in the control group,which might be associated with occupational exposure to ionizing radiation.
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Objective To provide the dose information from the epidemiological cohort established in 1980 in Jiangsu province using normalized workload method,and to estimate cumulative skin dose to medical diagnostic X-ray workers based on personal dosimeter were worn as members of the epidemiologicat cohort.Methods Data for fixed cohort members of X-ray exposure history from 1950 to June 2011 were collected.According to correction factors such as examination types and protection conditions,exposure doses from 1950s to June of 2011 were estimated through a Visual Basic language program.Results Average annual doses vary significantly between during different time periods:10.1 (6.1-12.3) mGy/year during 1950-1965,3.5 (2.1-5.4) mGy/year for 1966-1984 and 1.3 (0.9-1.9) mGy/year during 1985-2011,respectively.Conclusions Average annual doses received by 3 961 medical diagnostic X-ray workers during different time periods in this investigation are nearly consistent with the results reported previously and show a roughly similar trend.