Survey on fetal dose estimation methods in Europe in the framework of EU-funded SONORA Project (Towards Safe, Optimized and Personalized Radiology and Radiotherapy procedures for pregnant patients)

In the framework of the EU-funded "SONORA" project (Towards Safe, Optimized and persoNalized radiOlogy and RAdiotherapy procedures for pregnant patients), funded under the PIANOFORTE Open Call 2023, a survey was created through Google Form and shared in December 2024 among the PIANOFORTE stakeholders, European and National scientific societies of Medical Physics, Radiology, and Dosimetry (as Eurados). The survey aimed to investigate the current practices related to fetal dose estimation, procedure optimization, and risk communication to pregnant patients undergoing diagnostic imaging procedures across various institutions. The objective was to assess existing methodologies and identify areas requiring harmonization or improvement. Specifically, the survey aimed: 1) to identify the tools and methods used for fetal dose estimation in many DIR procedures performed on pregnant patients: Computed Tomography (CT), Radiography (RX), and Fluoroscopy/Angiography (RF/XA) procedures, and other modalities; 2) to identify the ranges of the dose to the fetus, for the different exposure modalities; 3) to investigate the optimization strategies to reduce fetal dose; 4) to investigate how communications take place between physician and the pregnant mother about the radiological risk to the unborn child. These files are related to the full questionnaire launched and the collected responses.