Patient cumulative radiation exposure—the potential for unintended consequences

Several recent publications have sought to highlight the benefits of tracking patient radiation exposure and how it can be used to strengthen the justification and optimization processes to enhance patient safety. In some cases, authors promote the use of dose tracking to keep medical prescribers aware of the patients’ cumulative exposure, presumably with a view to influencing the justification process. Inclusion of patient dose history in the justification process can be problematic for reasons that are not always well understood by medical prescribers. Our paper seeks to highlight these issues and attempts to provide some clarification. Key Points • Care must be taken in how cumulative radiation exposure is interpreted as it pertains to the justification process.