Hundreds of radiologists have taken the pledge to lower radiation doses delivered to patients as part of the launch of the Image Wisely campaign this week at the Radiological Society of North America's 2010 annual meeting in Chicago.

Roughly 750 providers promised to use only the radiation dose required by the exam, review imaging protocols and talk with referring doctors about optimal patient imaging strategies, according to the running count listed on the campaign's website.

The campaign also calls on doctors to get their facilities accredited and participate in a dose index registry.
Image Wisely is a joint effort from the American College of Radiology, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the RSNA. It's the adult counterpart to Image Gently for pediatric radiology, launched about three years ago.

An expert panel, convened Thursday at RSNA, said there has been a sevenfold increase in the public's exposure to medical radiation over the past quarter century, much of it from CT scans. In 2008, there were roughly 87 million CT scans performed, ACR said.

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