Benefits and Risks of Imaging Examinations

Your doctor or healthcare practitioner may have referred you for a test involving radiation to help them make a diagnosis or monitor your treatment. Examinations that use radiation include X-rays, CT scans, fluoroscopy examinations and nuclear medicine imaging.

There are strict laws that govern X-ray exposures, namely the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposures) Regulations.

Your doctor will have considered the benefits of having the X-ray and any associated risks to you when requesting the test. These should have been discussed with you.

You can find more information about radiation and the risks and benefits here:

• Patient leaflet on the benefits and risks of radiation
• Benefits and Risks of Radiation – Cardiac Imaging
• Benefits and Risks of Radiation – CT Scans
• Benefits and Risks of Radiation – Fluoroscopy and Interventional Radiography
• Benefits and Risks of Radiation – Nuclear Medicine Scans
• Benefits and Risks of Radiation – Mammography
• Benefits and Risks of Radiation – X-rays
• Public Health England – Ionising Radiation and You