Medical Radiation Exposures in Canada: 2017

Radiation-based medical techniques and devices provide significant benefits to patients through the diagnosis, treatment, and management of illness and disease. Documenting trends and frequency of use offer important insights into radiation protection and help address gaps in the documentation of medical exposures. Here, we present the retrospective Canadian data collected for the recent United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) global survey on medical exposure. The global survey included three modality categories: diagnostic and interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, and radiotherapy and reports the total number of devices, physicians, examinations, and procedures. Due to the inability to collect high-quality dose data from Canadian sources, the average doses for specific examinations and treatments were estimated using internationally pooled data. The total annual per capita dose from medical exposures was determined to be 1.56 mSv, excluding radiotherapy, resulting in approximately 47% of all radiation doses received by Canadians, compared to natural, industrial, and consumer product sources. This assessment of Canadian medical radiation exposures contributes to global improvement of patient protection, helps establish trends, and identifies where Canadian data collection is lacking, particularly dose data.