RENEB accident simulation exercise.

PURPOSE: The RENEB accident exercise was carried out in order to train the RENEB participants in coordinating and managing potentially large data sets that would be generated in case of a major radiological event. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Each participant was offered the possibility to activate the network by sending an alerting email about a simulated radiation emergency. The same participant had to collect, compile and report capacity, triage categorization and exposure scenario results obtained from all other participants. The exercise was performed over 27 weeks and involved the network consisting of 28 institutes: 21 RENEB members, four candidates and three non-RENEB partners. RESULTS: The duration of a single exercise never exceeded 10 days, while the response from the assisting laboratories never came later than within half a day. During each week of the exercise, around 4500 samples were reported by all service laboratories (SL) to be examined and 54 scenarios were coherently estimated by all laboratories (the standard deviation from the mean of all SL answers for a given scenario category and a set of data was not larger than 3 patient codes). CONCLUSIONS: Each participant received training in both the role of a reference laboratory (activating the network) and of a service laboratory (responding to an activation request). The procedures in the case of radiological event were successfully established and tested.

Web based scoring is useful for validation and harmonisation of scoring criteria within RENEB.

PURPOSE: To establish a training data set of digital images and to investigate the scoring criteria and dose assessment of the dicentric assay within the European network of biodosimetry (RENEB), a web based scoring inter-comparison was undertaken by 17 RENEB partners. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two sets of 50 high resolution images were uploaded onto the RENEB website. One set included metaphases after a moderate exposure (1.3 Gy) and the other set consisted of metaphases after a high dose exposure (3.5 Gy). The laboratories used their own calibration curves for estimating doses based on observed aberration frequencies. RESULTS: The dose estimations and 95% confidence limits were compared to the actual doses and the corresponding z-values were satisfactory for the majority; only the dose estimations from two laboratories were too low or too high. The coefficients of variation were 17.6% for the moderate and 11.2% for the high dose. Metaphases with controversial results could be identified for training purposes. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the web based scoring of the two galleries by the 17 laboratories produced very good results. Application of web based scoring for the dicentric assay may therefore be a relevant strategy for an operational biodosimetry assistance network.

RENEB intercomparisons applying the conventional Dicentric Chromosome Assay (DCA).

PURPOSE: Two quality controlled inter-laboratory exercises were organized within the EU project 'Realizing the European Network of Biodosimetry (RENEB)' to further optimize the dicentric chromosome assay (DCA) and to identify needs for training and harmonization activities within the RENEB network. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The general study design included blood shipment, sample processing, analysis of chromosome aberrations and radiation dose assessment. After manual scoring of dicentric chromosomes in different cell numbers dose estimations and corresponding 95% confidence intervals were submitted by the participants. RESULTS: The shipment of blood samples to the partners in the European Community (EU) were performed successfully. Outside the EU unacceptable delays occurred. The results of the dose estimation demonstrate a very successful classification of the blood samples in medically relevant groups. In comparison to the 1st exercise the 2nd intercomparison showed an improvement in the accuracy of dose estimations especially for the high dose point. CONCLUSIONS: In case of a large-scale radiological incident, the pooling of ressources by networks can enhance the rapid classification of individuals in medically relevant treatment groups based on the DCA. The performance of the RENEB network as a whole has clearly benefited from harmonization processes and specific training activities for the network partners.