OBJECTIVE. There is a known risk from radiation. The objective of this article is to answer the following question regarding CT: Is there a risk of lowering the radiation exposure so low that the risk of missing a diagnosis from excessive noise in the image begins to exceed the risk of the radiation itself.
CONCLUSION. When performing CT, adequate radiation dose must be used to make a confident and accurate diagnosis. The total population radiation exposure can be reduced effectively by numerous other means, including aggressively reducing the number of CT examinations performed for poor clinical indications, scanning only the anatomic region of interest, and not performing both unenhanced and contrast-enhanced scanning unless absolutely necessary.