Report from the European Committee for Ultrasound Radiation Safety (ECMUS)

 

The membership of the European Committee for Ultrasound Radiation Safety (ECMUS) has changed during the last year. At the Board of Directors meeting in Leipzig, Ladislav Dolezal (physicist, Czech republic), Kjell Salvesen (OB/GYN, Norway and Lil Valentin (OB/GYN, Sweden) were elected on to the Committee to join existing members Michael Delius (biologist, Germany), Christian Kollmann (physicist, Austria) and Gail ter Haar (physicist, UK). Annemieke van Wamel (biologist, the Netherlands) has also been co-opted into ECMUS to provide much needed and timely expertise on contrast agent safety.

Current ECMUS activities, apart from the annual re-affirmation of the clinical safety statements, include drawing up reviews of safety related publications relevant to clinical usage, drafting of tutorial articles on safety aspects of souvenir scanning and contrast agents, and consideration of the generation of EFSUMB's own guidelines for safe use of diagnostic equipment. The reports and statements will be published on the EFSUMB web site and in the European Journal of Ultrasound. It is also intended to introduce a "safety corner" in the EFSUMB newsletter - so Watch This Space!

There is currently very little information on the exposure levels used during ultrasound scanning in the clinic. ECMUS is therefore circulating a questionnaire about scanner settings in daily use to clinics in Europe, and asking them to complete one for every scan on one day. This follows a pilot study undertaken by BMUS in 2007. Once the results are in and analysed, they will be brought to the attention of the EFSUMB community. If you receive a request to fill in such a questionnaire please give serious consideration to completing it, or if feel able to participate please contact a member of ECMUS.