• Denise Bos, Nika Guberina, Sebastian Zensen, Marcel Opitz, Michael Forsting, and Axel Wetter.
• Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Department of Radiation Therapy, West German Cancer Center Essen, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Neuroradiology, Asklepios Klinikum Harburg, Hamburg, Germany.
• Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2023 Mar 13; 120 (9): 135141135-141.

BackgroundComputed tomography (CT) studies are requested by specialists from most medical disciplines and play a vital role in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. It follows that physicians of all specialties should possess basic knowledge of computed tomography, its proper use, and the radiation exposure associated with it.MethodsThis review is based on publications retrieved by a selective search of the literature.ResultsApproximately 12 million CT studies are carried out in Germany each year, and the trend is rising. Approximately 9% of all diagnostic studies involving ionizing radiation are CT studies. On average, more than 60% of the collective effective dose due to medical radiation exposure is attributable to CT. There are two types of radiation effects caused by ionizing radiation: sto - chastic and deterministic. The additional, individual relative lifetime cancer mortality risk due to ionizing radiation with wholebody exposure at a low single dose is estimated at 5% per sievert. Radiation exposure from CT studies of the head and trunk, e.g. of a patient with polytrauma, corresponds to an additional lifetime cancer mortality risk of approximately 0.1% at an effective dose of approximately 20 millisievert.ConclusionThe radiation exposure due to CT, and the risks to which patients are subjected by it, have become more important with greater use of CT. Technical advances, targeted dose monitoring, and analyses of dose data can help identify areas where improvement is necessary, in furtherance of the overriding goal of lowering patients' radiation exposure while preserving adequate image quality.

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