Patient effective dose resulting from radiographic examinations

Abstract

To assess the risk involved, an attempt was made to calculate the effective dose delivered to patients undergoing radiographic examinations. The examination parameters of 704 radiographs were used to calculate the average effective dose for each one of 40 different types of radiographic examinations and the results were tabulated. A sample of 2571 radiographs representing 1586 patients, obtained over a period of 2 weeks, was used to calculate the dose administered to this group. It was found that the average effective dose/radiograph was 549 muSv and the average effective dose/patient was 890 muSv, taking into account the fact that, on average, there were 1.62 exposures per patient. These figures were extrapolated to the total number of patients going through the radiology department giving a total dose of 59.4 Sv each year, causing an average annual risk of about three malignancies.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the medial extremity of the clavicle in forensic bone age determination: a new four-minute approach

“…Having a fatal accident during a 2.5-h-long journey in traffic is estimated to have an equivalent risk of dying from a radiation-induced cancer after a single orthopantogram (0.026 mSv) [18,21]. The study of the clavicle in forensic bone age determination generates an effective dose of 0.6 mSv for the radiographs (0.2 mSv each radiograph) and 0.6 to 0.8 mSv for the CT examination [22][23][24]. The radiation dose of the radiographs is relatively high compared with the other radiography examinations in forensic bone age determination such as an orthopantogram (0.026 mSv) and a hand radiograph (0.0001 mSv) [18,21,22].…”

Choosing Wisely: The American College of Rheumatology's Top 5 for Pediatric Rheumatology

“…Radiation exposure is a potential risk. In the absence of data to support clear benefit, radiographs should be obtained by the pediatric rheumatologist only when history and physical examination raise clinical concern about joint damage or decline in function (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35).…”

“…The radiation exposure associated with a single wrist radiograph is small, approximately 0.01 mSv (19). Available data suggest that cumulative childhood radiation exposure up to 49 mSv is not associated with cancer risk (38).…”

Age Estimation in Living Individuals

“…The effective dose from an X-ray examination of the hand is 0.1 microsievert (μSv) (Okkalides and Fotakis 1994), from an orthopantomogram 26 μSv (Frederiksen et al 1994), from a conventional X-ray examination of the clavicles 220 μSv (Okkalides and Fotakis 1994) and from a CT scan of the clavicles 600 μSv (Jurik et al 1996). Because of the relatively high effective dose of X-ray and CT examinations of the clavicles their use should be restricted to individuals with completed hand ossification.…”