Medical Imaging in the 21st Century — Getting the Best Bang for the Rad

Abstract

In the United States, the average radiation dose to which we are exposed has doubled in the past 30 years.^1,2 The average dose from natural background sources has not changed, but what has changed is that there has been an increase by a factor of more than 6 in the average radiation dose from medical imaging.¹³ In 1980, medical imaging was responsible for only about 15% of the total radiation exposure to the U.S. population from all sources; now the proportion is about 50%.Up to 30% of the radiation exposure to the U.S. population that is associated . . .