Protecting patients from ionising radiation

Ionising radiation is used in medicine:

• to produce images of the body for diagnostic purposes;
• to treat patients.
These medical applications are beneficial to patients, but are not without risks. Every radiological examination must be medically justified.

The medical imaging techniques that use ionising radiation for diagnostic purposes are:

• radiology, which uses X-ray generators (radiography, scanners, etc.);
• nuclear medicine, which uses radioactive sources (scintigraphy, etc.).
The techniques that use ionising radiation to treat patients are:

• radiotherapy;
• interventional radiology.