CONTEMPORARY COLLECTIVE EFFECTIVE DOSE TO THE POPULATION FROM X-RAY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE EXAMINATIONS-CHANGES OVER LAST 10 YEARS IN FINLAND.

Abstract

Contemporary collective effective doses to the population from x-ray and nuclear medicine examinations in Finland in 2018 was estimated. The estimated effective dose per caput from x-ray examinations increased from year 2008 to 2018 respectively from 0.45 mSv to 0.72 mSv and from nuclear medicine examinations from 0.03 mSv to 0.04 mSv. The proportional dose due to CT examinations of the total collective effective dose from all x-ray examinations increased from 58% in 2008 to 70% in 2018 and the dose did not change substantially in total when new conversion factors were applied. The collective effective dose from conventional plain radiography did not change substantially during the last ten years while the new (ICRP 103) tissue weighting factors were taken into use in 2018, however frequencies of examinations in total decreased. The collective effective dose from CT in nuclear medicine tripled between 2009 and 2018.