![\"CT](\"https:\/\/rayusradiology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ct2-300x168.jpg\")
<\/p>\nYou can\u2019t see it or feel it, so it can be easy to forget about radiation. But from the moment you walk past the bright yellow and black warning sign on the door and enter the CT room, you\u2019ll probably be thinking about it. So how worried should you be as you climb on the table and the technologist slides you into the round machine?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You\u2019re getting a certain amount of radiation every day, says Dr. Alexandra Georges<\/a>, a musculoskeletal radiologist at St. Luke’s RAYUS Radiology in Missouri. You get even more on a cross-country flight. It\u2019s called background radiation, which is generally considered to be safe. \u201cIt\u2019s too much radiation that can cause issues. It can cause cancers at a certain dose,\u201d explains Dr. Georges.<\/p>\n Americans were exposed to 7 times more radiation in 2006 than in the 1980s according to the National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurements<\/a>. Research suggests that was mainly because of increased medical radiation exposure with CT scans. Dr. Steven Pollei<\/a>, a neuroradiologist at RAYUS in Federal Way, WA says doctors were ordering more scans because CT technology was advancing so quickly. \u201cAs CT scanners got faster and faster, doctors started ordering scans for more people for more indications because before we couldn\u2019t do them.\u201d The scans provide useful information that helps your provider plan your care. When a provider orders a CT, he or she believes the information that will be gained from the CT outweighs the risk associate with the radiation exposure.<\/p>\n Concerned for the safety of our patients, RAYUS led the charge in reducing radiation exposure. Two RAYUS radiologists in Indiana started a pilot project that was eventually rolled out to all RAYUS centers. The project began tracking and reporting the radiation dose exposure of each of our patients. Dr. Pollei says at RAYUS, \u201cWe were one of the first adopters of the national registry to keep track of radiation dosage.\u201d That Dose Index Registry<\/a> was established by the American College of Radiology in 2011. By 2013 more than 9.4 million CT exams had been tracked.<\/p>\n This vast registry now allows your radiologist to compare the radiation dose you are getting to other patients across the country who are having the same body part imaged. CT technologist Randy Jorgensen at RAYUS in Federal Way, WA monitors and records the dose after each patient scan and compares it to the national average, striving to be well below the national average. \u201cWe are on the leading front of dose reduction so we want to make sure our doses are right where they need to be, which is why we customize the dose for every patient.\u201d<\/p>\n Learn how RAYUS adjusts the CT radiation dose for each patient:<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhy Radiation Exposure Greatly Increased<\/h3>\n
\n