Dr. Kanal’s Research Establishes New National Dose Levels for Common CT Exams

Kalpana M. Kanal, Ph.D., a medical physicist, professor and section chief in diagnostic physics in the Department of Radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, and colleagues examined actual patient data from the American College of Radiology (ACR) CT Dose Index Registry to develop size-based DRLs that enable healthcare facilities to compare their patient doses with national benchmarks and more effectively optimize CT protocols for the wide range of patient sizes they examine.

The use of DRLs have shown to reduce overall dose and the range of doses observed in clinical practice.

Dr. Kanal’s research is published here in Radiology.

This landmark work is very helpful in benchmarking CT dose levels. It will be widely cited, I predict. Congratulations, Kalpana!

Kalpana M. Kanal, Ph.D.