Proposal of quality assurance system for positron emission tomography in the Russian Federation

High diagnostic efficiency as well as the optimization of patient and staff doses in positron emission tomography (PET) can be achieved by implementing quality assurance program. This study was focused on the requirements and basic aspects of quality assurance (QA) in PET combined with computed tomography (CT), that include equipment quality control (QC). QA systems include methods of image QC, examination protocols, radiation monitoring and optimization of radiation protection of the staff and patients. This paper contains the proposals for the QC of equipment and diagnostic images, as well as values of diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for identification of abnormally high patient doses and optimization of radiation protection. Authors propose the system of quality assurance in PET considering the features of Russian healthcare and radiation protection.