RADIATION DAMAGE AND MEDICAL RADIATION EXPOSURE

Our assessments of medical X-ray dose and of radiologic practice in Hiroshima and Nagasaki revealed numerous deficiencies in radiologic procedures which, if eradicated, would greatly reduce doses to patients and their examiners. The urgent reasons for improving these areas are stressed, for example, by results of recent laboratory investigations and by the late effects resulting from exposure to the ionizing radiation of the atomic bombs. Some of these studies indicate that radiation effects can be anticipated from much lower doses than was previously thought. Guidelines and cautionary measures by which doses to patients and their examiners can be effectively reduced are cited.