Keywords:
Safety, Digital radiography, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Statistics, Biological effects
Authors:
A. Matković, L. Ištvanović, M. Drinkovic, J. Popic, V. Vidjak; Zagreb/HR
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-2281
Results
Mean patients' age was 55.2 ± 15.6 years.
Of all the patients 7.9% were without any formal education or only with finished elementary school,
53.7% had finished high school and 38.4% had a college or a higher degree.
According to the obtained data,
62.5% of patients got the explanation from their supervising physician about the radiological exam they were referred to.
240 patients think that the given explanation was sufficient.
93.8% of patients knew that some radiological procedures use ionizing radiation but when asked which procedure does not use ionizing radiation,
only 34.4% identified the correct procedure among offered X-ray,
CT,
angiography,
and MRI.
In comparison with chest X-ray,
chest CT,
chest angiography and both side mammography,
25.7% chose chest X-ray as the one with the lowest radiation dose (Fig. 1).
Our results are similar to some previously published investigations in Europe or America.
(1-5)
When we compared the answers from patients who got the information and explanation from their physicians and those who did not,
there were no significant differences (Fig. 2).
The only significant difference was noticed when patients with the lowest educational level were compared to those with the highest level.
Better educated patients have better knowledge of radiological procedures and the potential risks (Fig. 3).