Pattern of diagnostic procedures in radiology in the Netherlands

Data have been evaluated from an investigation of the pattern of diagnostic procedures in 49 hospitals of different types in The Netherlands. It appears that the numbers of examinations of all kinds increased from 1986 to 1988 by 10%. The increase in the total collective dose was 14%. The largest mean doses per investigation were found under the age of 5 and between the ages of 25 and 50. These doses arise from examinations with exposures far higher than 1 mSv per examination such as stomach, lumbar spine and IVP investigations as well as CT scans of the brain. A more critical approach to justification and optimisation techniques for those examinations alone is of great interest so as to reduce the dose caused by the medical applications of radiation. (author)