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Effective Doses in Radiology and Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine: A Catalog¹

¹ From the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, New Mexico Veterans Administration Healthcare System, 1501 San Pedro Blvd, Albuquerque, NM 87108 (F.A.M.); Department of Radiology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC (W.H.); Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (T.T.Y.); and The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Md (M.M.). Received August 17, 2007; revision requested October 2; revision received October 29; accepted December 11; final version accepted January 28, 2008. Address correspondence to F.A.M. (e-mail: fmettler{at}salud.unm.edu).

Medical uses of radiation have grown very rapidly over the past decade, and, as of 2007, medical uses represent the largest source of exposure to the U.S. population. Most physicians have difficulty assessing the magnitude of exposure or potential risk. Effective dose provides an approximate indicator of potential detriment from ionizing radiation and should be used as one parameter in evaluating the appropriateness of examinations involving ionizing radiation. The purpose of this review is to provide a compilation of effective doses for radiologic and nuclear medicine procedures. Standard radiographic examinations have average effective doses that vary by over a factor of 1000 (0.01–10 mSv). Computed tomographic examinations tend to be in a more narrow range but have relatively high average effective doses (approximately 2–20 mSv), and average effective doses for interventional procedures usually range from 5–70 mSv. Average effective dose for most nuclear medicine procedures varies between 0.3 and 20 mSv. These doses can be compared with the average annual effective dose from background radiation of about 3 mSv.

© RSNA, 2008

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