Guidelines in medical imaging : objectives, limits and radiation protection

Guidelines in medical imaging are aimed at increasing the appropriateness of prescriptions, eliminating unnecessary examina- tions, reducing the exposure of the population and minimizing the costs to public health. Our analysis is based on a bibliographic search and the discussions of the " quality " working group of the BELMIP platform. The introduction in 2004 and its 2014 revision of the guideliness in medical imaging in Belgium had no measurable effect on the imaging prescription. These recommendations are in fact unrecognized, incomplete, poorly constructed and often unusable. Recommendations in medical imaging need to be reviewed and will be reviewed in the near future in order to be better structured and usable. The legal and medico-legal constraints should be integrated in order for Belgium to comply with the relevant European directive.