Workshop Report/Summary


The growing use of medical diagnostic procedures such as diagnostic computed tomography, fluoroscopy, and nuclear medicine imaging exams brings tremendous benefits in the care of most patients. Yet there are growing concerns about the potential health risks resulting from the associated radiation exposure and increase in utilization. A number of initiatives in radiation safety in medicine have taken place in the United States and internationally, each serving different purposes. Their ultimate goals are to provide higher quality clinical management of the patient and to ensure that reasonable steps are taken to keep the exposures as low as possible without compromising diagnostic efficacy. The Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board held a workshop that brought together public health regulators, physicians, manufacturers, researchers, and patients to explore "why," "what," and "how" to track exposure from medical diagnostic procedures and possible next steps. It is hoped that this workshop report will be a valuable testimony to the questions other groups will have to face, and the consensus they will have to achieve, if radiation exposure tracking is to become a reality institutionally or nationally in the future.