Use of Ionizing Radiation in Screening Examinations for Coronary Artery Calcium and Cancers of the Lung, Colon, and Breast

Most medical imaging tests are used for diagnostic purposes to evaluate symptomatic patients, but a select few are commonly used for screening, including computed tomography (CT) for coronary artery calcium screening, lung cancer screening, and colon cancer screening; and mammography for breast cancer screening. All of these tests use ionizing radiation. Concerns about potential risk associated with ionizing radiation have increased in recent years, with the increased use of medical imaging. Given that screening examinations are performed on asymptomatic patients, controlling radiation dose to as low as reasonably achievable in these examinations is especially important.
Source: Seminars in Roentgenology - Category: Radiology Authors: Source Type: research