Prospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Jul 20, 2022; 12(4): 264-273
Published online Jul 20, 2022. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v12.i4.264
Are we aware of radiation: A study about necessity of diagnostic X-ray exposure
Erdal Karavas, Bunyamin Ece, Sonay Aydın, Mehmet Kocak, Zeliha Cosgun, Isil Esen Bostanci, Mecit Kantarci
Erdal Karavas, Sonay Aydın, Mecit Kantarci, Department of Radiology, Erzincan University, Erzincan 24142, Turkey
Bunyamin Ece, Department of Radiology, Kastamonu University, Kastamonu 37150, Turkey
Mehmet Kocak, Department of Radiology, Bolu İzzet Baysal State Hospital, Bolu 14300, Turkey
Zeliha Cosgun, Department of Radiology, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu 14030, Turkey
Isil Esen Bostanci, Department of Radiology, Dr. Abdurrahman Yurtaslan Oncology Training and Research Hospital, Ankara 06200, Turkey
Mecit Kantarci, Department of Radiology, Atatürk University, Erzurum 25240, Turkey
Author contributions: Karavas E, Ece B, and Aydin S participated in design and oversight of the study, and drafted the manuscript; Ece B and Aydin S assisted with data analysis; Kocak M, Cosgun Z, Bostanci I, and Kantarci M participated in design of the study, and was involved in data collection; all authors wrote, read, and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Erzincan University Institutional Review Board (Approval No. E-21142744-805.91-912567).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at bunyaminece@hotmail.com. Participants gave informed consent for data sharing and the presented data are anonymized.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bunyamin Ece, MD, Assistant Professor, Doctor, Department of Radiology, Kastamonu University, Kuzeykent 57, Alay Street, No. 4, Kastamonu 37150, Turkey. bunyaminece@hotmail.com
Received: January 19, 2022
Peer-review started: January 19, 2022
First decision: March 24, 2022
Revised: March 27, 2022
Accepted: June 3, 2022
Article in press: June 3, 2022
Published online: July 20, 2022
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Total exposure to ionizing radiation has nearly doubled in the last two decades. This increase is primarily due to increased computed tomography (CT) exposure. Concerns have been raised about the risks associated with patients' exposure to medical imaging radiation, which can increase a person's lifetime risk of developing cancer. Preventing unnecessary examinations becomes critical at this point. To avoid unnecessary examinations, it is necessary to understand the demanding process.

AIM

To ascertain clinicians' awareness of and reasons for requesting a CT examination.

METHODS

We developed an online questionnaire that included 20 questions about clinicians' awareness of radiation safety and their reasons for requesting a CT examination, as well as demographic information such as age, gender, and year of medical practice experience. Additionally, we asked participants the number of CT scans requested in a month, the patients' questions and approaches about the imaging method, the effect of the patient's previous imaging history on the current imaging request, whether they believed that they had sufficient information about radiation doses, and whether they requested CT without an indication. We administered the questionnaire to clinicians from a variety of different professions in four different cities.

RESULTS

A total of 195 clinicians participated. Internal medicine specialists were the most crowded group (38/195, 19.5%). Mean age of the population was 33.66 ± 5.92 years. Mean year of experience was 9.01 ± 5.96. Mean number of requested CT scans in a month was 36.88 ± 5.86. Forty-five (23.1%) participants stated that they requested CT scans without clinical indication. The most common reasons for CT scan requests were work load, fear of malpractice, and patient demand/insistence.

CONCLUSION

CT scan requests are influenced by a variety of factors, both internal and external to the doctors and patients. Raising awareness of radiation safety and reducing fear of malpractice by limiting the number of patients per physician may result in a reduction in unnecessary CT examinations and ionizing radiation exposure.

Keywords: Ionizing radiation, Exposure, Tomography, Physicians, Knowledge, Awareness

Core Tip: Total exposure to ionizing radiation has nearly doubled in the last two decades. This increase is primarily due to increased computed tomography (CT) exposure. Preventing unnecessary examinations becomes critical. We developed an online questionnaire about clinicians' awareness of radiation and their reasons for requesting a CT scan. The most common reasons for CT scan requests were work load, fear of malpractice, and patient demand/insistence. CT scan requests are influenced by a variety of factors. Raising awareness of radiation and reducing fear of malpractice by limiting number of patients per physician may result in a reduction in unnecessary CT examinations and radiation exposure.