Evaluation of radiation risk for patients undergoing medical examinations in the Russian Federation

Abstract

The aim of the study was to develop a methodology for assessing radiation risk for patients undergoing medical examinations in the Russian Federation. The methodology is based on the risk model of the ICRP Publication 103, the coefficients of lifetime radiation risk for the Russian population and the results of evaluating the doses of patients in the Russian Federation. For thirty examinations that define about 80% of the collective dose of the population of the Russian Federation from medical exposure, the radiation risk was calculated using «gold standard», — the organ doses and the corresponding sex/age risk coefficients for the Russian population. For other examinations (with the exception of mammography) the values of the risk coefficients normalized on 1 mSv of effective dose, which is the averaged value for four selected anatomical areas of the body: head, neck, chest and abdominal cavity — pelvis, were used. It is assumed that for such examinations the error of risk assessment will increase relative to the error of risk assessment for the aforementioned 30 examinations not more than 30%. It is shown that risk estimates for some examinations calculated using the “gold standard” may differ from such estimates on the base of effective dose and nominal risk coefficients averaged by age and the sex to the order of magnitude.