Estimation of Organ Doses Among Diagnostic Medical Radiation Workers in South Korea

Abstract

This study aimed to estimate the radiation organ doses from occupational exposure in 94 396 Korean medical radiation workers. Data on badge doses (i.e. personal dose equivalent at 10 mm) between 1996 and 2011 obtained from a national dosimetry registry, survey data from 2012 to 2013, and organ dose conversion coefficients provided by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) were used for the estimation. The highest mean cumulative badge doses (26.87 mSv) were observed in radiologists, followed by radiologic technologists (15.96 mSv). Male workers exhibited higher mean cumulative badge doses, across occupational groups. The estimated organ doses showed similar trends with those of badge doses. Organs located outside the apron's coverage such as the thyroid showed higher mean organ doses than those protected by the apron. Our findings could contribute to future radiation epidemiologic studies to investigate health effects from occupational radiation exposure in Korea.

Projected lifetime cancer risks from occupational radiation exposure among diagnostic medical radiation workers in South Korea

“…Female workers consistently showed a higher LAR of all radiation-related cancers combined for all occupational groups although these workers were exposed to lower doses of radiation than male workers [ 17 , 27 ]. This result may be due to the combined effects of the higher radiosensitivity in women than in men (i.e., the higher coefficients of radiation dose in the excess risk model equations), younger age of first exposure in women, and higher baseline incidence rates for thyroid cancer in South Korea [ 28 ].…”

“…Furthermore, radiologic technologists had higher annual radiation doses than other groups and consequently have higher cumulative doses. In addition, the medical radiation workers in South Korea who were exposed to radiation earlier received higher doses of radiation [ 17 , 29 ], which explains the observed tendency of temporal decrease in LAR considering the years of radiologic practice. This tendency was relatively smaller in radiologic technologists than in other groups, suggesting that excess lifetime risk in radiologic technologists was not decreased significantly by year of start of work, and therefore these professionals may have priority for radiation protection.…”

“…Organ-specific doses were previously estimated for all diagnostic radiation workers after badge doses were calculated for workers exposed before 1996 [ 17 ]. Briefly, the annual and cumulative individual badge doses based on Hp (10) (dose at a tissue depth of 10 mm from the dosimeter) were calculated by combining the quarterly badge readings for the workers enrolled in the NDR.…”

“…The number of medical radiation workers increased significantly in South Korea, from 12,652 in 1996 to 80,115 in 2016 [ 16 ]. A historical dose reconstruction was conducted, and organ-specific radiation doses were estimated for all diagnostic medical radiation workers who were enrolled in the National Dosimetry Registry (NDR) from 1996 to 2011 as part of the registry-linkage cohort study [ 17 ]. Using these organ-specific doses to estimate cancer risk could provide valuable information of cancer burden from current levels of occupational radiation exposure among medical radiation workers.…”

Thyroid cancer risks among medical radiation workers in South Korea, 1996–2015

“…A general description of mortality in this cohort was reported recently [ 12 ]. A historical dose reconstruction was performed [ 13 ] and organ-specific radiation doses were estimated for the cohort [ 14 ]. We have extended this study by linking to data on cancer incidence in order to investigate the role of occupational radiation exposure in cancer development.…”