Radiation protection dosimetry for diagnostic radiology patients.

The radiation protection of patients undergoing medical X-ray examinations is governed by the principles of justification and optimisation. Radiation dosimetry is required to inform medical practitioners of the levels of exposure and hence the risks from the diagnostic procedures that they have to justify and to assist the operators of X-ray imaging equipment to determine whether their procedures are optimised. This paper describes the main dosimetric methods that have been developed to meet these requirements. Suitable radiation risk projection models are used to predict the risks to patients in the UK from computed tomography examinations, as a function of age at exposure and sex, and show that the lifetime risk of fatal cancer can reach 1 in 1000 for children. The concept of 'diagnostic reference levels' as an aid to the optimisation of medical exposures is described, and progress in implementing them in the UK is reported.