A new analysis of radiation doses in women who undergo CT imaging has experts calling for stricter criteria to justify the exam’s necessity. 

The analysis centered on breast radiation doses in young females undergoing either chest or abdominal CT imaging. Experts found that compared to the average effective doses of organs, breast doses were higher [1], representing increased risks of breast cancer for women. 

“Breast cancer incidence is affected by age and total doses received (Kashyap et al., 2022). Females exposed to ionizing radiation have been linked to an increased incidence of breast cancer. Thus, estimation of breast doses and improvement of patient dose reduction methods are encouraged,” corresponding author of the Applied Radiation and Isotopes paper, Nissren Tamam, from the Department of Physics at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University in Saudi Arabia, and colleagues explained. 

Patients included in the study were between 15 and 35 years old, and examinations were divided evenly into chest and abdominal CT scans. Tamam and colleagues reported that the average effective dose to the chest was 7.9 mSv (2.3–47.0 mSv) and 6.6 mSv for abdominal exams, ranging from (3.3–27 mSv). For the breast, equivalent doses were 10.2 (1.6–33 mSv) for chest exams and 10.1(2.3–19 mSv) for scans of the abdomen, respectively. Experts explained that the chest doses observed in this study were the equivalent of three mammographic procedures.