Medical imaging dose optimisation from ground up: expert opinion of an international summit
As in any medical intervention, there is either a known or an anticipated benefit to the patient
from undergoing a medical imaging procedure. This benefit is generally significant, as demonstrated
by the manner in which medical imaging has transformed clinical medicine. At the same time, when it
comes to imaging that deploys ionising radiation, there is a potential associated risk from
radiation. Radiation risk has been recognised as a key liability in the practice of medical imaging,
creating a motivation for radiation dose optimisation. The level of radiation dose and risk in
imaging varies but is generally low. Thus, from the epidemiological perspective, this makes the
estimation of the precise level of associated risk highly uncertain. However, in spite of the low
magnitude and high uncertainty of this risk, its possibility cannot easily be refuted. Therefore,
given the moral obligation of healthcare providers, ‘first, do no harm,’ there is an ethical
obligation to mitigate ...
Source: Journal of Radiological Protection - Category: Physics Authors: Ehsan Samei, Hannu J ärvinen, Mika Kortesniemi, George Simantirakis, Charles Goh, Anthony Wallace, Eliseo Vano, Adrian Bejan, Madan Rehani and Jenia Vassileva Source Type: research