CT radiation risks coming into clearer focus As we gather more direct evidence of the dose-response curve from childhood CT

摘要

Recent attention to the cancer risks of ionizing radiation has prompted vigorous debate about how to quantify the risks of diagnostic imaging, and whether or how these risks ought to be incorporated into our decision making process as we participate in patient care. In the past, models of the carcinogenic risks of ionizing radiation have primarily relied on long term surveillance of the Japanese atomic bomb survivors, which showed significant increases in the incidence of cancer after effective doses greater than about 50 mSv. The relative paucity of direct data in the lower dose range delivered by diagnostic imaging has led to conflicting opinions about the shape and slope of the radiation dose-response curve.