Speaker
Description
Background: CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) is a highly effective diagnostic tool for detecting pulmonary embolism. However, its increasing use raises concerns regarding patient radiation exposure and cancer risk.
Methods: This study evaluated the radiation dose and lifetime cancer risk associated with CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) performed at a major university hospital. DoseWatch was used to extract dose metrics from 246 adult patients, and CT-Expo 2.5 was used to calculate the effective dose. Although CTPA is a highly effective diagnostic tool, concerns persist regarding its increasing use and associated radiation exposure.
Results: The volume CT dose index, dose length product and effective dose values in this cohort were all below the UK diagnostic reference levels, indicating that the current protocols are generally well optimised. Although these are relatively low doses, age- and sex-specific lifetime cancer risk estimates revealed a measurable excess risk, particularly among younger and female patients.
Conclusions: The findings show that CTPA practices conform to international dose benchmarks, but continuous dose optimisation is still needed, particularly for radiosensitive populations. These results support the refinement of local protocols and contribute to national dose audit data for future DRL settings.
Keywords: Computed tomography; Angiography; Patient dose; cancer Risk; chest CT, effective dose; breast dose