Dosimetry in medical exposures: Trends, challenges and next steps

Abstract

According to a recently released report from the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) medical exposures account for 98 % of the contribution from manmade sources of ionizing radiation and are now the second largest contributor to population dose worldwide1. Almost 3/4ths of the worldwide collective effective dose from medical imaging is accounted for by healthcare level 1 countries (e.g., Australia, France, United States). An overview of these data will be provided and actions taken by responsible national and international authorities will be described. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.