SU-E-I-47: Comparison of Risks for Two Medical Imaging Procedures

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Radiation Oncology
• Biostatistics

Background:

• Radiologists select imaging procedures based on patient needs and associated risks.
• Secondary cancer risk from medical imaging depends on radiation dose and distribution.
• Organ sensitivity to radiation varies, impacting overall risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a quantitative measure for comparing the relative risk of secondary cancers between medical imaging procedures.
• To account for radiation dose distribution, patient age, gender, and population incidence rates in risk assessment.

Main Methods:

• Utilized advanced radiation dosimetry to estimate organ-specific dose distributions.
• Derived a relative risk measure based on cancer incidence hazard functions.
• Incorporated data from the SEER database and the LSS study to model risk factors.

Main Results:

• The proposed risk measure approximates a weighted sum of organ dose differences, with weights reflecting organ-specific incidence rates.
• Younger patients exhibit higher absolute relative risks, with gender-specific differences observed for chest versus abdominal CT scans.
• At higher attained ages, the relative risk between procedures becomes comparable.

Conclusions:

• Relative risk quantification provides a valuable tool for comparing risks associated with different medical imaging procedures.
• The developed method allows for personalized risk assessment by incorporating individual patient factors.