The radiation from a scanner examination varies from one establishment to another. If it was thought that it depended on the patient’s sensitivity, researchers assure that it actually depends on how the staff uses the machine.
The French are increasingly exposed to radiation from medical imaging. In any case, this is what emerges from the latest “ExPRI” report of theInstitute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) dated. In five years, the number of diagnoses using CT imaging, and therefore ionizing radiation, has increased by 6%.
This report dates from 2014 and is published every five years. Computed tomography (CT), or scanner, has radiation associated with an increased risk of cancer, especially in younger people. It is therefore necessary to reduce its exposure and above all to avoid unnecessary variations in radiation. Because depending on the patient, the establishment or the country, the radiation is not the same.
Why does radiation vary so much?
Researchers have tried to figure out why. They publish their results in the British Medical Journal. To better understand what factors affect radiation, the team of researchers analyzed data from more than two million scanners, compiled from 151 facilities in seven different states.
Medical imaging included scans of the abdomen alone, the chest alone, the abdomen and chest combined, and the head. In all, 1.7 million adults took part in the study, between November 2015 and August 2017. The researchers based themselves on several criteria related to each patient (gender and size for example), each type of establishment (university, private) and to the machine itself (its brand, its manufacturer, its model).
Doses need to be more consistent
In fact, the researchers found that these factors had little effect on the variation in radiation dose. However, it is by looking at a technical factor, that is to say on the use of the scanner by the medical staff, that variations have been observed. The researchers insist that this is an observational study, which does not, as such, determine the cause of these variations. Nevertheless, these results emphasize the importance of establishing standard radiation doses. The researchers also call for better international collaboration, in order to define the optimal doses.
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