[Special Reports] Effective Doses in Radiology and Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine: A Catalog

Mettler, F. A., Huda, W., Yoshizumi, T. T., Mahesh, M. — 2008-06-19

Medical uses of radiation have grown very rapidly over the past decade, and, as of 2007, medical uses represent the largest source of exposure to the U.S. population. Most physicians have difficulty assessing the magnitude of exposure or potential risk. Effective dose provides an approximate indicator of potential detriment from ionizing radiation and should be used as one parameter in evaluating the appropriateness of examinations involving ionizing radiation. The purpose of this review is to provide a compilation of effective doses for radiologic and nuclear medicine procedures. Standard radiographic examinations have average effective doses that vary by over a factor of 1000 (0.01–10 mSv). Computed tomographic examinations tend to be in a more narrow range but have relatively high average effective doses (approximately 2–20 mSv), and average effective doses for interventional procedures usually range from 5–70 mSv. Average effective dose for most nuclear medicine procedures varies between 0.3 and 20 mSv. These doses can be compared with the average annual effective dose from background radiation of about 3 mSv.

[Special Reports] Impact of the National Institutes of Health on Radiology Research

Itagaki, M. W. — 2008-03-27

Purpose: To retrospectively quantify the characteristics of published radiology research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and to retrospectively characterize the contribution of the individual NIH institutes.

Materials and Methods: The National Library of Medicine's PubMed database was searched for all articles published by U.S. radiology departments from 1996 to 2005. Methodology and NIH grant support were recorded for each article. Data were analyzed with linear regression curve estimation, with P ≤ .05 indicating a significant difference.

Results: Worldwide, 76 838 articles were identified, with 30 156 (39.25%) originating from the United States. The NIH funded 28.36% of clinical trials and 18.58% of U.S. articles overall. The proportion of funded articles increased annually by 1.1% (P < .001) overall, by 3.5% for clinical trials (P < .001), and by 5.2% for multicenter trials (P < .001). By 2005, 54.9% of all clinical trials and 55.6% of multicenter trials were NIH funded. The National Cancer Institute sponsored the most articles (2505 articles; growth, 13.5 articles per year; P = .003), followed by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (1030 articles; growth, 4.7 articles per year; P = .012). The newest NIH institute, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, had the most rapid growth (320 articles; growth, 43.7 articles per year; P = .01).

Conclusion: The NIH funded less than one-fifth of all U.S. radiology articles, but the proportion of funded articles is increasing, especially for clinical trials, where in 2005 more than half received funding; cancer and neurologic disease research is relatively well funded.

Radiology Special Reports

[Special Reports] Effective Doses in Radiology and Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine: A Catalog

[Special Reports] Impact of the National Institutes of Health on Radiology Research