Biological effects of low-dose radiation from computed tomography scanning

Abstract

Purpose: With the widespread use of computed tomography (CT), the risks of low-dose radiation from CT have been increasingly highlighted. This study aims to illustrate the CT-induced biological effects and analyze the potential beneficial or harmful outcomes so as to provide radiologists with reasonable advice on CT usage.

Materials and methods: The related literature was analyzed according to the topics of stochastic effect, hereditary effect, deterministic effect, accumulative injuries, hormesis and adaptive response; population epidemiology data were also analyzed.

Results: CT accounts for 9% of X-ray examinations and approximately 40–67% of medical-related radiation, the dose is within the range of low-dose radiation (LDR). Two opposite viewpoints exist nowadays regarding the biological effects of CT scanning: They are either harmful or harmless. Approximately 0.6% and 1.5% of the cumulative cancer risk could be attributed to diagnostic X-rays in the UK and Germany, respectively. The probability of CT scans induced-cancer is about 0.7% and CT angiography's risk is around 0.13%. It is estimated that approximately 29,000 cancers could be related to CT scans in the USA every year. Meanwhile, another investigation of 25,104 patients who underwent 45,632 CT scans in 4 years showed that the majority of CT-induced cancers were accidents rather than certainties of frequent CT scans.

Conclusion: Although the LDR effects of CT are still controversial, the current problems include the high frequency-use and abuse of CT scans, the increase of radiation dose and accumulative dose in high-accuracy CT, and the poor understanding of carcinogenic risks. The underlying biological basis needs further exploring and the ratio of risks and benefits should be considered.

Keywords::

• Computed tomography (CT)
• low dose radiation (LDR)
• stochastic effect
• deterministic effect
• cancer risk

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

This study was supported by NSFC grant (30770649, 30970682), Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20100061110070), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Jilin University.