Medical physicists advise patients to not decline radiation imaging procedures

Inside Science : The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) has stated that the benefits of diagnostic radiation procedures far outweigh the risks. Specifically, the association said that the risks from medical imaging at effective doses below 50 millisieverts for a single procedure, or 100 mSv for multiple procedures over a short period of time, are so low as to be undetectable. A full-body CT scan results in 12 mSv; a mammogram, 0.13 mSv. The risks from those procedures, according to AAPM, are too low to have been determined reliably and may be “nonexistent.” Media stories uncovering improper use of machines that use much higher levels of radiation to treat cancer and journal articles cautioning physicians to minimize diagnostic CT scans in children have raised unfounded fears about radiation procedures in general, AAPM said. The scientific community is not unanimous on the issue, and the statement has drawn criticism from scientists who think that even very small doses of radiation are potentially damaging.