Despite the significant importance of computed tomography (CT) scans, there are concerns regarding the delivery of high doses of radiation while performing CT scans. Currently, radiologists are looking for new solutions to improve the safety profile of CT. For instance, physicians and technicians at Porter Adventist Hospital have recently designed a new low-dose cardiac CT technique. They also managed to create methods to reduce radiation exposure in other CT scans.
Dr. Simeon Abramson, lead heart CT radiologist at Porter, said "As the technology became more advanced and highly useful in diagnosing people with disease at an earlier stage, we grew concerned over the amount of radiation exposure patients may face over their lifetimes," he added "We learned that it was possible to use software within our system that allowed us to reduce the radiation exposure in CT heart scans for most of our patients. The quality of the image has not been affected and we know that we are protecting our patients from potential harmful doses." Although CT scans are a very powerful and significantly important diagnostic tool, they still include delivering higher doses of radiation than other diagnostic imaging systems. A chest CT scan delivers radiation equal to that of 100 regular chest X-rays.