Radiation Doses to Patients Undergoing Imaging Procedures in Manitoba

Abstract

The effective dose equivalent, HE, can be conveniently used to characterize the radiation delivered to patients undergoing all types of diagnostic examinations. By combining the total number of diagnostic procedures performed in 1979 in the province of Manitoba with the estimated HE value for each examination type, it is shown that the estimated annual per caput radiation dose to the 1.0 million inhabitants of this province is approximately 1. 0 mSv. The variations in the annual number of patients for two examination categories (Computed tomography (CT) and nuclear medicine) are presented, together with the corresponding per caput radiation doses. Demographic data of patients undergoing CT scans show that this population is generally older than an average "adult" population, and that the corresponding radiation detriment is approximately 45% of the value expected in a similarly irradiated "adult" population.