IEC TR 60788:2004

Medical electrical equipment - Glossary of defined terms

This Technical report comprises all defined terms used in the IEC standards and technical reports which - fall under the scope of medical electrical equipment, and - are on the list of publications as stated in May 2003. The glossary is prepared to ease the use of the electronic version by two search functions: - Search in the alphabetic order, and - Search by the technical and physical chapters in case of ionising radiation (rm-xx-xx).

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 16-Feb-2004
• ICS: 01 - GENERALITIES. TERMINOLOGY. STANDARDIZATION. DOCUMENTATION
• ICS: 11.040.50 - Radiographic equipment
• Technical Committee: TC 62 - Medical equipment, software, and systems
• Current Stage: PPUB - Publication issued
• Start Date: 29-Feb-2004
• Completion Date: 17-Feb-2004

Standards Content (Sample)

TECHNICAL IEC
REPORT TR 60788
Second edition
2004-02
Medical electrical equipment –
Glossary of defined terms
Reference number
IEC/TR 60788:2004(E)
Publication numbering
As from 1 January 1997 all IEC publications are issued with a designation in the
60000 series. For example, IEC 34-1 is now referred to as IEC 60034-1.
Consolidated editions
The IEC is now publishing consolidated versions of its publications. For example,
edition numbers 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 refer, respectively, to the base publication, the
base publication incorporating amendment 1 and the base publication incorporating
amendments 1 and 2.
Further information on IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC,
thus ensuring that the content reflects current technology. Information relating to
this publication, including its validity, is available in the IEC Catalogue of
publications (see below) in addition to new editions, amendments and corrigenda.
Information on the subjects under consideration and work in progress undertaken
by the technical committee which has prepared this publication, as well as the list
of publications issued, is also available from the following:
• IEC Web Site (www.iec.ch)
• Catalogue of IEC publications
The on-line catalogue on the IEC web site (www.iec.ch/searchpub) enables you to
search by a variety of criteria including text searches, technical committees
and date of publication. On-line information is also available on recently issued
publications, withdrawn and replaced publications, as well as corrigenda.
• IEC Just Published
This summary of recently issued publications (www.iec.ch/online_news/ justpub)
is also available by email. Please contact the Customer Service Centre (see
below) for further information.
• Customer Service Centre
If you have any questions regarding this publication or need further assistance,
please contact the Customer Service Centre:

Email: [e-mail]
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
TECHNICAL IEC
REPORT TR 60788
Second edition
2004-02
Medical electrical equipment –
Glossary of defined terms
© IEC 2004 ⎯ Copyright - all rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.
International Electrotechnical Commission, 3, rue de Varembé, PO Box 131, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
Telephone: [phone] Telefax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] Web: www.iec.ch
PRICE CODE
Commission Electrotechnique Internationale
XH
International Electrotechnical Commission
Международная Электротехническая Комиссия
For price, see current catalogue

– 2 – TR 60788 © IEC:2004(E)
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
MEDICAL ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT –
GLOSSARY OF DEFINED TERMS
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any
EQUIPMENT declared to be in conformity with an IEC Publication.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a
technical committee may propose the publication of a technical report when it has collected
data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard, for
example "state of the art".
IEC 60788, which is a technical report, has been prepared by IEC TC 62: Electrical EQUIPMENT
in medical practice.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition of IEC 60788 published in 1984.
This second edition constitutes a technical revision.
The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
62/137/DTR 62/140/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the
report on voting indicated in the above table.
This publication does not follow the rules for structuring International Standards as given in
Part 2 of the ISO/IEC Directives.

TR 60788 ©IEC:2004(E) – 3 –
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
2005. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed;
•withdrawn;
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
– 4 – TR 60788 © IEC:2004(E)
INTRODUCTION
Purpose
– To provide an actual mirror of defined terms for all steps in the development of IEC
standards under the scope of “MEDICAL ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT”, IEC TC 62.
– To give guidance for harmonisation of the defined terms used in the IEC standards on
“MEDICAL ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT”.
Contents
– All DEFINED TERMS used in the General, Particular and Collateral Standards, recorded in
the project files of the IEC for TC 62, SC 62A, 62B, 62C and 62D are mirrored.
– Recommendations to avoid existing redundancy are added as red text in the column
“Definitions” in the table.
Maintenance
– An annual maintenance cycle for this TR is introduced. Closing date for the editorial input
is the middle of December of a year.
– The annual editorial maintenance is done by the Secretaries of the IEC technical
committee 62 and its subcommittees 62A, 62B, 62C and 62D.
– The compilation (addition of new terms and deletion of obsolete terms) is done by the
Secretary of IEC TC 62.
Targets
– Represent the state-of-the-art in the definitions
– Harmonize the language of the IEC publications
– Ease translations of the IEC publications
– Enable self-control by the experts working in projects for MEDICAL ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT.
Coded reference of the DEFINED TERMS
– In all cases – as appropriate – the reference codes “IEV xxx-xx-xx” of the International
Electronic Vocabulary (IEV) are added in the “Reference” column of the table.
–For DEFINED TERMS used in RADIOLOGY the reference codes “rm-xx-xx” remain unchanged
as initiated by IEC 60788 Ed.1.
– For main fields other than RADIOLOGY, the coded references will be generated in future
annual editions.
Replacement
This technical report replaces IEC 60788 Ed.1, Medical radiology – Terminology.

TR 60788 ©IEC:2004(E) – 5 –
MEDICAL ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT –
GLOSSARY OF DEFINED TERMS
1 Scope
This Technical report comprises all defined terms used in the IEC standards and technical
reports which
– fall under the scope of MEDICAL ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT, and
– are on the list of publications as stated in May 2003.
2 Normative references
The documents referenced in 2.2 are forming the sources for the defined terms in this
document.
2.1 General
The defined terms listed in this glossary are mirrored as presented in the standards and
technical reports. Only the recommendations are added for further harmonisation of multiple
defined terms.
The glossary is prepared to ease the use of the electronic version by two search functions:
– Search in the alphabetic order, and
– Search by the technical and physical chapters in case of ionising radiation (rm-xx-xx).
2.2 List of the IEC publications mirrored in this edition 2004
The list of IEC Standards below comprises the defined terms as used in the latest
consolidated version, comprising the amendments as applicable.

– 6 – TR 60788 © IEC:2004(E)
1 60336 1993-07 51 60601-2-47 2001-07
2 60522 1999-02 52 60601-2-49 2001-07
3 60526 1978-01 53 60601-2-50 2000-07
4 60580 2000-01 54 60601-2-51 2003-02
5 60601-1/A1+ A2 1988-12/ 55 60601-2-55 To be
1991-11/ published
1995-03 56 60601-3-1 1996-08
6 60601-1-2 2001-09 57 60613 1989-05
7 60601-1-3 1994-07 58 60627 2001-08
8 60601-1-4 Ed.1.1 2000-04 59 60731/A1 1997-07/
9 60601-2-1 /A1 1998-06/ 2002-06
2002-05 60 60789 1992-02
10 60601-2-2 1998-09 61 60806 1984-01
11 60601-2-3/A1 1991-06/
62 60976/A1 1989-06/
1998-09 2000-07
12 60601-2-4 2002-08 63 60977/A1 1989-10/
13 60601-2-5 2000-07 2000-04
14 60601-2-6 1984-01 64 61168 1993-12
15 60601-2-7 1998-02 65 61170 1993-12
16 60601-2-8 Ed.1.1 1999-04 66 61217 Ed.1.1 2002-03
17 60601-2-9 1996-10 67 61223-1 1993-07
18 60601-2-10/A1 1987-12/ 68 61223-2-1 1993-07
2001-09
69 61223-2-4 1994-03
19 60601-2-11 1997-08 70 61223-2-5 1994-03
20 60601-2-12 2001-10 71 61223-2-6 1994-04
21 60601-2-13 2003-05 72 61223-2-7 1999-09
22 60601-2-16 1998-02
73 61223-2-9 1999-09
23 60601-2-17/A1 1989-09/
74 61223-2-10 1999-09
1996-03
75 61223-2-11 1999-09
24 60601-2-18/A1 1996-08/
76 61223-3-1 1999-03
2000-07
77 61223-3-2 1996-11
25 60601-2-19/A1 1990-12/
78 61223-3-3 1996-11
1996-10
79 61223-3-4 2000-03
26 60601-2-20/A1 1990-12/
80 61262-1 1994-07
1996-10
81 61262-2 1994-07
27 60601-2-21/A1 1994-02/
82 61262-3 1994-07
1996-10
83 61262-4 1994-07
28 60601-2-23 1999-12
84 61262-5 1994-08
29 60601-2-24 1998-02
85 61262-6 1994-07
30 60601-2-25/A1 1993-03/
86 61262-7 1995-09
1999-05
87 61267 1994-10
31 60601-2-26 2002-11
88 61303 1994-10
32 60601-2-27 1994-04
89 61331-1 1994-10
33 60601-2-28 1993-04
90 61331-2 1994-10
34 60601-2-29, 1999-01
91 61331-3 1998-11
35 60601-2-30 1999-12
92 61674/A1 1997-10/
36 60601-2-31/A1 1994-10/
2002-06
1998-01
93 61675-1 1998-02
37 60601-2-32 1994-03
94 61675-2 1998-01
38 60601-2-33 2002-05
95 61675-3 1998-02
39 60601-2-34 2000-10
96 61676 2002-09
40 60601-2-35 1996-11
97 61852 1998-04
41 60601-2-36 1997-03
98 61859 1997-05
42 60601-2-37 2001-07
99 61948-1, TR 2001-02
43 60601-2-38/A1 1996-10/
100 61948-2, TR 2001-02
1999-12
101 62083 2000-11
44 60601-2-39 1999-06
102 62266, TR 2002-03
45 60601-2-40 1998-02
103 ISO 14971 2000-11
46 60601-2-41 2000-02
47 60601-2-43 2000-06
48 60601-2-44 Ed.2.1 2002-11
49 60601-2-45 2001-05
50 60601-2-46 1998-06
TR 60788 © IEC:2004(E) – 7 –
Glossary of DEFINED TERMS used for MEDICAL ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT –
Edition 2004
Search.
...via chapters ...by alphabetic index A  B-C D E-F G-I K-M N-O P-Q R S T-V W-Z
for imaging EQUIPMENT for all medical EQUIPMENT
Physics General Ionizing Interactions Quantities, units
RADIATION and related
concepts
Generation and emission General HIGH VOLTAGE X-RAY TUBE PARTICLE Beam therapy, Therapy EQUIPMENT
of ionizing RADIATION generators assemblies ACCELERATORS RADIONUCLIDE with SEALED
sources RADIOACTIVE SOURCES
RADIOLOGICAL EQUIPMENT General EQUIPMENT for Images: Reception, EQUIPMENT for EQUIPMENT for Accessories Operation of Geometry of
using ionizing RADIATION medical transfer, recording RADIOTHERAPY nuclear EQUIPMENT RADIATION BEAM
diagnostics medicine
Medical RADIOLOGICAL General Diagnosis Therapy using Nuclear medicine
techniques using beams beams
Dosimetry General RADIATION PHANTOMS
DETECTORS
Protection against General Limits and Groups of persons Areas Means of
ionizing RADIATION factors protection
Testing of RADIOLOGICAL General Test VERIFICATION of Concepts in Obligation &
EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENT characteristics mathematics, statement of
metrics, statistics compliance
Technology
General Docu- EQUIPMENT Operation of Persons
mentation EQUIPMENT
Magnetic resonance General
EQUIPMENT
ULTRASOUND EQUIPMENT General
– 8 – TR 60788 © IEC:2004(E)
ABSORBED DOSE TO WATER RADIOACTIVE HALF-LIFE SEALED RADIOACTIVE SOURCE
PHYSICS
General        rm-10 ACTIVITY RELATIVE SURFACE DOSE TARGET
RADIATION TYPE ADDITIONAL FILTRATION RESPONSE TARGET ANGLE
AIR KERMA RESPONSE TIME TREATMENT ROOM
AIR KERMA LENGTH SENSITIVITY PROFILE X-RAY EQUIPMENT
PHYSICS
AIR KERMA RATE TENTH-VALUE LAYER X-RAY GENERATOR
Ionizing RADIATION    rm-11
ATTENUATION TOTAL FILTRATION X-RAY IMAGING ARRANGEMENT
DOSE PROFILE
EXTRA-FOCAL RADIATION ATTENUATION COEFFICIENT TRANSMISSION KERMA X-RAY TUBE HEAD
ATTENUATION EQUIVALENT (TRANSMISSION KERMA RATE)
FOCAL RADIATION GENENERATION & EMISSION
INTRINSIC ENERGY R
...