RSNA 2019 Takeaway #3: Average Medical Radiation Doses In The US Are Decreasing

The number of imaging procedures performed in recent years has continued to climb, leading to concerns about increased radiation exposure for patients. As a result, dose reduction has been one of the biggest areas of emphasis within radiology as practices across the country struggle to identify and implement effective dose optimization protocols in an attempt to minimize patient exposure while maintaining image quality. 

It’s been a huge battle, and last Monday at RSNA 2019 Dr. Mahadevappa Mahesh from Johns Hopkins University presented results from the 2019 National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurements (NRCP) report on the current status of medical radiation doses in the US.

The key takeaway? Average diagnostic and interventional medical radiation doses in the US are decreasing...by a lot.

The 2019 report, entitled “Medical Radiation Exposure in Patients in the United States”, serves as a 10 year update on the status of radiation doses in the US, and it showed a dramatic decrease in the average radiation dose per person by as much as 15-20%. It’s a huge improvement upon statistics from the 2009 report, which found that medical radiation exposure was responsible for nearly half of the total radiation exposure of the US population between the early 1980’s to 2006, having increased almost six-fold from the previous 1987 report. 

*Image sourced from RSNA

Researchers believe these improvements can be attributed largely to advances in medical technology and protocols, in addition to dose reduction campaigns like “Image Gently” and “Image Wisely”, which have sought to increase awareness about the importance of dose optimization. There’s still room for improvement when it comes to CT, which showed the lowest reduction in dose out of any imaging procedure, but the results are promising. You can check out the full results from the report here.

Radiology has evolved so much over the years, a fact that was evidenced at RSNA 2019, and dose reduction is just the tip of the iceberg. Medical technology itself, but more importantly how we use it and the protocols we employ to improve patient care, is continuing to change in ways that are incredibly exciting. It’s a great time to be in the industry, and we look forward to seeing how improvements in medical dose reduction continue to grow over the upcoming years.