Physicians’ and Midlevel Providers’ Awareness of Lifetime Radiation–Attributable Cancer Risk Associated With Commonly Performed CT Studies: Relationship to Practice Behavior (original) (raw)

any diagnostic imaging examinations involve exposure to ionizing radiation from radioactive materials or x-rays. The primary risk associated with ionizing radiation is cancer [1-4]. The exposure from medical radiation is, by far, the greatest artificial source of radiation to the general population [5]. The per capita radiation dose from medical exposures in the United States increased from 0.67 mSv/year in 1980 to over 3 mSv/ year in 2005. CT scans are largely responsible for this dramatic increase [6-11]. From 1980 to 2005, CT scan usage increased from 3 million to 60 million scans. This is out of proportion to population growth; a 50% growth in the U.S. population was accompanied by a 600% increase in medical exposure to radiation [5]. Although the risk for any one person is not large, increased radiation