Evaluation of Cancer Risk Induced by Radiation Exposure from Normal Head CT Scans

Radiology examinations are growing significantly every year. Analysis of the CT scan reports can highlight defects and is a good way to develop safety in healthcare. This study aimed to evaluate the rate of normal head Computed Tomography (CT) scans at a hospital radiology department in Shahroud and estimate the cancer risk associated with these normal CT scans.

In total, the data of 400 patients referred to the emergency radiology center of Imam Hossein hospital in Shahroud from November 23 to December 10, 2021, were collected. CT scan reports were categorized into three groups according to the interpretation of the radiologist. The BEIR VII model was used to estimate the radiation cancer risk.

Among the 400 patients, 248 (62%) were males and the average age of the patients was 49.05 ± 22.60 years. CT scans in 270 (67.5%) cases were reported normal. The average age of the patients with normal, and abnormal CT scans were 41.86 ± 20.27, and 63.03 ± 20.27 years, respectively and the difference was significant (p-value <0.001). The average effective dose was obtained 1.72±0.09, 1.31±0.11, and 0.87±0.09 mSv for different age groups of 1-5, 5-10, >10-year-old. The average risks of all solid cancers were 7.82 cases per 100,000 patients, while the average risk of leukemia was 0.71 cases per 100,000 patients.

A large percentage of CT examinations are normal in our country which leads to many public health issues in the future years. Therefore, efforts should be made to establish predictor clinical factors to reduce unnecessary radiology examinations.