Organ Doses From Diagnostic Medical Radiography—Trends Over Eight Decades (1930 to 2010)

Abstract

This study provides a retrospective assessment of doses to 13 organs for the most common radiographic examinations conducted between the 1930s and 2010, taking into account typical technical parameters used for radiography during those years. This study is intended to be a resource on changes in medical diagnostic radiation exposure over time with a specific purpose of supporting retrospective epidemiological studies of radiation health risks. The authors derived organ doses to the brain, esophagus, thyroid, red bone marrow, lungs, breast, heart, stomach, liver, colon, urinary bladder, ovaries, and testes based on 14 common radiographic procedures and compared, when possible, with doses reported in the literature. These dose estimates were based on radiographic exposure parameters described in textbooks widely used by radiologic technologists in training from 1939 to 2010. The derived estimated doses presented here are believed to be representative of typical organs for an average-size adult who might be considered to be similar to the reference person. There were large variations in organ doses noted among the different types of radiographic examinations. Doses were highest in organs within the area imaged and next highest in organs in close proximity to the area imaged. Estimated organ doses have declined substantially [overall 22-fold (±38)] over time as a consequence of changes in technology, imaging protocols and protective measures. For some examinations, only slight differences were observed in doses for the decades of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s due to minor changes in technical parameters. Substantial dose reductions were observed in the 1990s and 2000s.

The risk of cancer attributable to diagnostic medical radiation: Estimation for France in 2015

“…This would also allow an estimation of how this assumption impacts the PAF estimates. However, it is unlikely that the PAFs have been overestimated, as organ doses per procedure (over all age groups) have tended to decrease over time . In order to estimate the organ doses from nuclear medicine procedures, we assumed that trends in the collective doses in France from 1950 to 2005 were the same as in the UK during the same time period.…”

“…However, it is unlikely that the PAFs have been overestimated, as organ doses per procedure (over all age groups) have tended to decrease over time. 29 In order to estimate the organ doses from nuclear medicine procedures, we assumed that trends in the collective doses in France from 1950 to 2005 were the same as in the UK during the same time period. Such trends were also assumed to be similar for different subtypes of nuclear medicine procedures.…”

Thyroid Radiation Dose to Patients from Diagnostic Radiology Procedures over Eight Decades

“…In general, mAs was reduced significantly between the 1930s and 2000s as a result of improvements in materials (film, intensifying screens) and technology. For example, the soft-tissue neck examination in the AP projection had a ten-fold reduction of mAs between 1930 and 2010 (Melo et al 2016). …”

“…Doses to the thyroid for all radiographic exams, except the clavicle and shoulder exams during 1930 – 2010, were taken from a comprehensive dose reconstruction study of diagnostic medical radiography recently published (Melo et al 2016). Following a comprehensive literature search, Melo et al estimated thyroid doses from the most common radiographic examinations conducted between 1930 and 2010 by abstracting machine parameters from data provided in training textbooks for radiologic technologists and using those data to calculate typical doses.…”

“…For the time period 1930 – 1950, we assumed that temporal trends of dose to the thyroid from fluoroscopy examinations would be similar to the trends for other radiographic exams. Specifically, we derived temporal trends from a study of organ doses from diagnostic medical radiographic examinations (Melo et al 2016) performed in the same anatomical locations as the upper GI series and barium swallow examinations. All ratios were normalized to the 2000–2009 decade and were applied to the fluoroscopic examinations.…”