A Retrospective Evaluation of Organ Specific Radiation Doses from Lung Cancer Screening CT: Differences by Race and...

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the US. Lung cancer screening (LCS) with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) has been shown to decrease lung cancer mortality but may be associated with increased malignancy risk secondary to radiation exposure. The purpose of this study is to provide organ dose estimates of radiation from LCS LDCTs by race and sex in a real-world population.

This retrospective cohort study included patients who had a LDCT for LCS in a large health system between January 2020 and December 2022. LDCTs and patient characteristics were obtained from radiation dose monitoring software (RDMS); self-reported patient race was obtained from the radiology information system. Organ doses were calculated using best fit Christy phantoms from RDMS. Patient body habitus was approximated with water equivalent diameter (WED). Regression compared organ dose from top three organs by sex and race controlling for body habitus (represented by WED).

A total of 13,431 imaging studies from 9771 patients met the criteria for inclusion. Organs receiving the most radiation exposure were thymus (2.9 [standard deviation (SD) 1.6] mGy), lungs (2.8 [1.6] mGy), breasts (2.8 [1.6] mGy), and heart (2.5 [1.4] mGy). Multivariate regression analysis revealed significant positive associations between body size and lung, thymus, and breast radiation dose; African American race and radiation exposure to lungs, thymus, and breast; and male sex and radiation exposure in lung and thymus dose.

Organ dose estimates of radiation from LDCTs are provided from a real-world population, which identify differences by sex and race when accounting for body habitus. This information can be used to better understand radiation risk from LCS.