Thyroid Intercomparison Service Standard

The National Calibration Reference Centre for Bioassay and In Vivo Monitoring (The Centre), operated by the Radiation Surveillance and Health Assessment Division, provides specially designed neck phantoms to allow facilities to demonstrate that their thyroid monitoring program meets the requirements of Regulatory Standard S-106. The phantoms, provided to participants in the Centre's intercomparison program, can also be used to establish calibration factors.

Participants in the thyroid intercomparison program are mailed a kit that contains the following: a neck phantom modelled from a human neck made of material to closely approximate human tissue, inserts designed to mimic a real thyroid gland (ICRP 1975) containing simulated ¹³¹I, and/or ¹²⁵I, an overlay to allow for different thickness of tissue over the thyroid gland, instructions on the proper use of the phantom (including a training video), a report form, and a telephone "hot-line" number for assistance

The Centre provides advice and assistance to participating facilities to solve problems identified through their participation in the thyroid intercomparison program and maintains a historical, confidential data base for efficient information retrieval and trend analysis.

Service Pledge

Dosimetry Services participating in this intercomparison meet the requirement for independent testing as given in the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's (CNSC) Regulatory Standard, "Technical and Quality Assurance Standards for Dosimetry Services in Canada", S-106, March 20, 1998.

Participants receive their individual results and can view aggregate results on the Centre's website. The individual reports and aggregate results preserve the anonymity of the participants. The reports and facility identities are also provided to the CNSC. in accordance with S-106.

The Centre's Quality Manual and relevant Quality Records will be made available to a client, on request, for a mutually agreed period.

Service Delivery Targets

The Centre provides an annual intercomparison service to facilities that perform thyroid monitoring which includes:

• Thyroid phantoms that can be used to measure bias and precision of a counting system.
  
• Radioactivity levels of the thyroid phantoms guaranteed to an accuracy of ± 5 % based on gravimetric preparation.
  
• Shipment of the phantom at a time convenient to the participant (contingent on the number of available phantoms).
  
• Access to qualified staff to assist in the test process.
  
• Response to clients' enquiries within two working days and issues addressed within 2 weeks of receipt.
  
• A written report evaluating participant results sent within five working days of receiving the intercomparison data from the client facility.
  
• A calibration phantom can be provided to facilities that do not meet the regulator's performance requirements during a test.
  
• An annual aggregate report not identifying participants posted on the Centre's website
  
• A quality assurance program to confirm the reliability and accuracy of the intercomparison samples which includes purchase of radionuclide standards from either the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) or a laboratory traceable to NIST.
  
• Documented procedures written in accordance with ISO 9001:2000 are available for review.

Additional Information

The following documents describing various aspects of the thyroid intercomparison are available at no cost:

• Kramer, G.H.; Burns, L.C.; Meyerhof, D.P. The Canadian National Calibration Reference Centre for In-Vivo Monitoring: Thyroid Monitoring. Part I: The National Inter-Comparison Programme. Canadian Journal of Medical Radiation Technology 24(4): 157-160; 1993.
• Kramer G.H.; Olender G.; Vlahovich S.; Hauck B.M.; Meyerhof D.P. Comparison of the ANSI, RSD, KKH and BRMD Thyroid-Neck Phantoms for 125I Thyroid Monitoring. Health Physics 70(3): 425-429; 1996.

Other documentation and publications that may be of interest to thyroid monitoring facilities are listed on the Centre's WebSite
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ncrc

Feedback Mechanisms

Comments, suggestions for improvement or complaints may be made to:

Dr. Gary H. Kramer
Head, Human Monitoring Laboratory
Radiation Protection Bureau, Address Locator: 6302D1
775 Brookfield Road
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1C1
CANADA

Telephone: 613-954-6668;
Facsimile: 613-957-1089
e:mail: Gary_H_Kramer@hc-sc.gc.ca or hml-lsh@hc-sc.gc.ca