Date 21/12/2024
The aim of the CONCERT project (http://embryodose.med.uoc.gr) was the production of dosimetric data and risks for proper management of a) pregnant women who must undergo radiological examinations and b) pregnant employees who may take part in fluoroscopically guided interventional procedures.
Normalized conceptus dose data derived during the project are implemented into a dynamic calculation tool for research use for the a) conceptus dose and risk assessment from x-ray imaging examinations and b) calculation of the fetal dose in case of occupational exposure.
Particular emphasis was given that the dynamic web dose and risk estimation tool possess a fast, user-friendly user interface for trouble-free operation. At the same time the tool can act as an effective research tool for the experienced medical physicist.
The software development procedure embraced all necessary components to function properly with immediate user interface response. The server-side language of the calculation tool is PHP, CSS driven Document Object Model (DOM), API based on JavaScript (Ajax) and Jquery libraries. Additional use of Bootstrap framework eased web development and made uniform, visually appealing CSS-based modern web pages. XML was not suitable to handle all database entries and possible future data implementations so MySQL was employed.
The conceptus dose estimation (CODE) tool user interface comprises of 4 major components: 1) a radiography, 2) a fluoroscopy, 3) a computed tomography dose/risk calculation module for radiological examinations and 4) an occupational dose estimation module for the occupational conceptus exposure calculations. Radiographic or fluoroscopic examinations are grouped either as complete procedures or individual projections.
Calculations in radiography and fluoroscopy modules can be performed in commonly used projections with tube output and dose area product inputs for a variety of Al and Cu filtrations. CT module supports an accurate patient irradiation selection trough topogram-like interface and the occupational module allows for iso-curve production and on-the-fly conceptus dose calculation for numerous positions in the IR laboratory.
An intelligent interpolation engine can supply dosimetric data for virtually any exposure data entered by the user. The tool is capable of storing all dose/risk calculations performed as a history record.
Windows / OSX / Android based 32-bit or 64-bit system with Internet Browser Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome recommended
Although all reasonable efforts have been made to provide the user with a stable, functional and useful software product, CODE software tool is not intended for MEDICAL USE OF ANY KIND. Dose and risk calculations provided by the CODE tool should be taken as estimates and may not be used solely for medical decisions.
