Patient doses and risks from diagnostic radiology in North-east Italy

A study has been conducted to asses the impact of radiological practice in 1983 in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, a region of North-east Italy with 1,250,000 inhabitants. The design involved three phases: a region-wide frequency survey; dosimetric measurements on patients in all public X-ray facilities; derivation of organ doses from those measurements. Frequencies by type, age and sex and values of the main technical parameters of radiological examinations are presented. Organ doses, effective dose equivalents and risk estimates are given for 14 selected examinations. The annual per-capita effective dose equivalent and the genetically significant dose are estimated at 0.848 mSv and 0.253 mSv, respectively. From these values, collective risks have been predicted by using the risk factors given in the International Commission on Radiological Protection Publication 26. The results indicate that 14 persons risk induced malignancies and 2.5 persons risk genetic detriment.