Proceedings of the British Institute of Radiology. Too much radiation in radiodiagnosis? Abstracts. London, March 9, 1988.

Abstract

The potential for reducing the radiation exposure of the community is nowhere higher than in the field of radiodiagnosis, which accounts for nearly 90% of the dose to the population from all uses of ionizing radiation. Results of national surveys are presented which demonstrate wide variations in doses to patients from the same type of X-ray examination. Many of the higher doses could be dramatically reduced with no loss of diagnostic information and at little, if any, financial cost. A reduction of less than 1% in the population exposure from diagnostic radiology would balance the entire contribution from the UK nuclear power programme.