Patient Exposure from Radiologic and Nuclear Medicine Procedures in the United States: Procedure Volume and Effective Dose for the Period 2006–2016

Abstract

S ources of radiation exposure to the U.S. population are derived from five broad categories: (a) ubiquitous background radiation (including radon); (b) medical procedures in patients; (c) consumer products or activities involving radiation sources; (d) industrial, security, medical, educational, and research radiation sources; and (e) occupational sources in specific categories of workers. Comprehensive assessments of the frequency and associated doses from radiologic and nuclear medicine procedures are conducted only rarely. In the United States, assessments of diagnostic radiologic procedures were conducted in 1964 (1), 1970 (2), and 1980 (3) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Mettler et al (4). Beginning about 1980, the Center for Devices and Radiological Health of the Food and Drug Administration conducted more focused surveys, which included dosimetry data for selected radiologic procedures. The last comprehensive estimates of uses of medical radiation in the United States were performed more than 10 years ago and were published in 2009 by Mettler et al (5) and the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) in its Report 160 (6) using data

Radiation dose monitoring in computed tomography: Status, options and limitations

“…In summary, dose monitoring systems play an important role in dose monitoring and optimization in radiology departments [93,94]. They help evaluate imaging protocols and radiation doses, obtain information on dose outliers, and monitor the effect of protocol adjustment.…”

Increasing Incidence of Thyroid Carcinoma: Risk Factors and Seeking Approaches for Primary Prevention

“…creased exposure. [39][40][41] In Germany the estimated mean per capita of "medical" effective dose is increasing as well and in 2014 reached 1.6 mSv. The application frequency of CT scans was 9%, however…”

Patients Radiation Risks from Computed Tomography Lymphography

“…However, still patients exposed to less optimized CT procedures. [ 4 ] Recent study by Mettler et al . in the US showed that the efforts of dose reduction and optimization produced in a reduction of patient doses from CT procedures by 6%.…”

“…in the US showed that the efforts of dose reduction and optimization produced in a reduction of patient doses from CT procedures by 6%. [ 4 ] This reduction is due to the increasing awareness of staff at radiology departments and improved CT design and improvement in detector technology by producing sensitive detectors and that allows generating high image quality with a least radiation dose. [ 4 ] The modern multidetector technology (sensitive detectors) enabled efficient usage of radiation dose to obtain diagnostic findings.…”

“…[ 4 ] This reduction is due to the increasing awareness of staff at radiology departments and improved CT design and improvement in detector technology by producing sensitive detectors and that allows generating high image quality with a least radiation dose. [ 4 ] The modern multidetector technology (sensitive detectors) enabled efficient usage of radiation dose to obtain diagnostic findings. [ 2 , 5 ] Patients are frequently exposed to radiation.…”