The Neglected Side of the Coin: Quantitative Benefit-risk Analyses in Medical Imaging.

While it is implicitly recognized that the benefits of diagnostic imaging far outweigh any theoretical radiogenic risks, quantitative estimates of the benefits are rarely, if ever, juxtaposed with quantitative estimates of risk. This alone - expression of benefit in purely qualitative terms versus expression of risk in quantitative, and therefore seemingly more certain, terms - may well contribute to a skewed sense of the relative benefits and risks of diagnostic imaging among healthcare providers as well as patients. The current paper, therefore, briefly compares the benefits of diagnostic imaging in several cases, based on actual mortality or morbidity data if ionizing radiation were not employed, with theoretical estimates of radiogenic cancer mortality based on the "linear no-threshold" (LNT) dose-response model.