A recent article published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians states that education of referring physicians, more assertive radiologists, and an increased use of healthcare IT are the keys to reducing patient exposure to radiation.

While these assertions may be true, the article also touched on rising radiation exposure due, primarily, to CT scans. Since the early 1980s, the estimated per capita dose from medical radiation in the US has increased significantly. But this isn’t the whole story…

While it is true that medical radiation from CT has increased markedly since 1980, so has the benefit to health from CT. We no longer do “exploratory surgery” for example, in order to sort out complex diagnostic imaging challenges. The false negative rate from Appendix surgery has plummeted. And cancer diagnosis rates overall are declining while cancer cure rates have gone up substantially, particularly in the last 5 years.

Meanwhile, the radiation dose per CT scan has gone down dramatically as the principles of low-dose CT continue to be better understood and implemented. Scans that used to require 25 mSv of radiation are now being done for 20% of that amount. While negative effects from low dose radiation have never bee proven (below 50 mSv), we still strive to keep our doses as low as possible.

So the issue is not radiation cost, but cost/benefit ratio. Driving a car is dangerous too, but we accept the cost/benefit ration. For CT that ratio is much better!