Importance of Virtual Dose

New software is developing that reduced the radiation from X-rays and CT scans. That software is Virtual Dose. The study is funded by the U.S. Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and conducted by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The software aims is more accurate data for making informed decisions about the potential risks and benefits of scan procedures.

The radiation exposure from a single CT scan is still relatively small when compared with the clinical benefit of the procedure, but patients often receive multiple scans during the course of their diagnostic or therapeutic procedure. Our new software should help to record the exposures more accurately and more consistently.

Various US and international organizations have been calling for a "dose registry" system, especially after a recent report has been issued by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), of which Xu is a member, alarming against the vast increase in radiation exposure.

Before using this software we have to create such a criteria like age, sex, pregnancy, height, and weight. By entering these data into the software, the program creates a virtual 3-D "phantom" anatomically matching with the patient's internal organs, and detail how radiation interacts with each organ. The phantom, in turn, allows physicians and researchers to compare the levels of radiation exposure a patient gets from different CT scanning protocols or different scanner designs.