Abstract

In 2006, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) commissioned the German Commission on Radiological Protection (SSK) to prepare the first catalogue providing recommendations for the procedures suited to the wide variety of diagnostic and interventional questions.

As medical diagnostics and therapeutic procedures are evolving all the time, this catalogue requires regular updates to keep pace with the state of the art in science.  In the seven years since the 2nd edition was released, physicians, scientific societies and working communities have supplied a number of constructive suggestions for amendments and improvements.

The SSK expert group evaluated these suggestions, the majority of which were added to this current version with minor modifications at most. In addition, the use of imaging procedures was revised for a number of medical questions and updated to reflect the state of the art in science.

In the third, revised edition now available, an adaptation to the new radiation protection legislation has been made. The table "Typical effective doses from radiological and nuclear medicine diagnostic procedures for a standard patient" has been updated and expanded. Breast tomosynthesis, new PET-CT indications, new interventional procedures and side effects of MRI contrast agents were also taken into account. The list of clinical problems has been updated and expanded. With the exception of breast cancer, malignant diseases were summarized for the first time in a separate chapter on oncology.

The guide was translated into English for the first time in order to achieve greater dissemination. An HTML web version that can be integrated into clinical information systems and an app for smartphones / tablets are in preparation.