Irradiation Event

An irradiation event is the loading of X-Ray equipment caused by a single continuous actuation of the equipment's irradiation switch, from the start of the loading time of the first pulse until the loading time trailing edge of the final pulse. The irradiation event is the "smallest" information entity to be recorded in the realm of Radiation Dose reporting. Individual Irradiation Events are described by a set of accompanying physical parameters that are sufficient to understand the "quality" of irradiation that is being applied. This set of parameters may be different for the various types of equipment that are able to create irradiation events. Any on-off switching of the irradiation source during the event is not treated as separate events, rather the event includes the time between start and stop of irradiation as triggered by the user. E.g., a pulsed fluoro X-Ray acquisition is treated as a single irradiation event.

Irradiation events include all exposures performed on X-Ray equipment, independent of whether a DICOM Image Object is being created. That is why an irradiation event needs to be described with sufficient Attributes to exchange the physical nature of irradiation applied.

Accumulated Dose Values

Accumulated Dose Values describe the integrated results of performing multiple irradiation events. The scope of accumulation is typically a study or a performed procedure step. Multiple Radiation Dose objects may be created for one Study or one Radiation Dose object may be created for multiple performed procedures.