Computed tomography and patient risk: Facts, perceptions and uncertainties

Core Tip

Core tip: The rapid increase in computed tomography (CT) utilisation has brought with it significant public concern with regards to the doses of ionising radiation delivered during scanning due to the fact that some experimental and epidemiological evidence has linked exposure to low-dose radiation to the development of solid organ cancers and leukaemia. It now seems that a threshold-model of risk might be more appropriate with the risk increasing exponentially once cumulative doses of 100 mSv or more are reached. Nevertheless, there is an inherent responsibility on the medical community to keep radiation doses “as low as reasonably achievable”. Each imaging procedure needs to be justified and optimised and the minimum radiation dose possible used to obtain a diagnostic CT should remain the goal in each clinical scenario.