Performance of dose calibrators in Brazilian hospitals for activity measurements.

Abstract In order to obtain information on the accuracy of activity measurements in Brazilian hospitals, several intercomparison exercises have been organized since 1998. The first exercise consisted of two intercomparison runs of 131 I and 99m Tc and had the participation of 21 hospitals localized in Rio de Janeiro city and surroundings. The second, with 131 I (47 hospitals) and 123 I (12 hospitals), had the participation of hospitals localized in the whole country. The results were analyzed under the statistical point of view and conformity to the norms of Regulatory Authority. These results have shown that such exercises are necessary to improve the quality of the measurements and to identify those instruments that are producing incorrect values.