Are patients sufficiently shielded against stray radiation during CT scans?

Radiation exposure during diagnostic imaging such as computed tomography (CT) contributes to a small, but potentially preventable percentage of cancers, yet a new study reports that 40% of hospitals surveyed do not routinely utilize CT shielding. Overall, 99% of the hospitals were aware that shielding can safeguard patients and 84% believed it to be beneficial, so why isn't it being used more routinely—a topic explored in the study published in Journal of Endourology.

The article entitled "Prevalence of Protective Shielding Utilization for Radiation Dose Reduction in Adult Patients Undergoing Body Scanning Using Computed Tomography" was coauthored by Jaime Landman, MD and colleagues from University of California, Irvine.

In their survey of hospital shielding practices during CT imaging, the researchers focused on the protection of four radiosensitive organs: eyes, thyroid, breasts, and gonads.