IAEA INTERCOMPARISON EXERCISES OF THYROID MEASUREMENT: PERFORMANCE OF LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN LABORATORIES.

(131)I is widely used in Latin America and Caribbean Region in the field of nuclear medicine and has been recognised as one of the main sources of potential intake of radionuclides by the staff. The In Vivo Monitoring laboratory of the Institute for Radiation Protection and Dosimetry (IRD-CNEN-Brazil) organised three intercomparison exercises (2005, 2009 and 2013) in the scope of IAEA technical cooperation projects RLA9049 and RLA9066 aimed to disseminate and harmonise the technique for measuring (131)I in the human thyroid. The number of participants in Latin America increased from 9 to 20 institutions from 7 and 13 countries, respectively, over the last 10 y. The participants have improved significantly their ability on the in vivo measurement technique. In the 2013 round all laboratories which reported results presented performances in an acceptable range according to the ISO criteria indicating the benefit of such exercises in the region.