Estimating the cancer risk and mortalities induced byroutine digital radiography examinations on patientof different ages in Mazandaran province

Background: the aim of this study was to estimate the cancer risks andmortalities of different types induced by routine examinations of digitalradiography for one year in mazandaran province, iran. materials andmethods: radiation parameters and calculated entrance skin dose (esd)values of 13 digital radiographic examinations were collected from 2340patients at 18 high-patient-load radiography centers. organ mean doses wereestimated based on the collected parameters applying pcxmc software. thebeir vii-phase 2 model was used to calculate the induced cancer risks andmortalities of various cancer types at different ages. results: the average ±standard deviation (sd) lifetime risks (incidence probability in 100,000people) induced by radiations from radiography examinations for one yearwas 51.29±4.73 and 99.62±7.36 for new-born males and females,respectively. the lifetime cancer risk decreased with age and reached3.77±0.62 and 4.88±0.07 for 80-year men and women, respectively. theaverage lifetime risks of mortality due to cancers induced by annualradiographies were obtained at 14.18±1.62 and 22.83±2.55 for new-bornmales and females, respectively. this risk reduced with age and was reached1.97±0.27 and 2.45±0.38 for men and women at the age of 80 years,respectively. conclusion: our results showed that there are low butsignificant risks of cancer incidence for patients undergoing digitalradiography, which included a large percentage of the population inmazandaran province, especially for children and newborns.therefore, further efforts like appropriate patient setup and beamgeometry should be carried out to decrease patient doses.