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©2013 UpToDate ® Print Email Adult thoracic effective doses Procedure Modality Average effective dose (mSv) Number of chest x-rays (PA/lateral) with equivalent radiation dose Chest radiograph (posteroanterior) Conventional radiography 0.02 0.2 PA and lateral chest radiographs Conventional radiography 0.1 1 Thyroid scan (iodine 123) Nuclear medicine 1.9 19 Lung ventilation-perfusion scan Nuclear medicine 2.2 22 Thoracic angiogram Conventional fluoroscopy or interventional radiology 5 50 Parathyroid scan Nuclear medicine 6.7 67 Conventional coronary angiogram Conventional fluoroscopy or interventional radiology 7 70 CT chest Computed tomography 8 80 Nuclear cardiac stress test Nuclear medicine 9.4-12.8 94-128 Cardiac PET Nuclear medicine 14.1 141 CT pulmonary embolism protocol Computed tomography 15 150 Coronary angioplasty or stent Conventional fluoroscopy or interventional radiology 15 150 CT coronary angiogram Computed tomography 16 160 PET: positron-emission tomography. Data from: Mettler, FA, Huda, W, Yoshizumi, TT, Mahesh, M. Effective doses in radiology and diagnostic nuclear medicine: a catalog. Radiology 2008; 248:254. Smith-Bindman, R, Lipson, J, Marcus, R, et al. Radiation dose associated with common computed tomography examinations and the associated lifetime attributable risk of cancer. Arch Intern Med 2009; 169:2078. Shrimpton, PC, Hillier, MC, Lewis, MA, Dunn, M. National survey of doses from CT in the UK: 2003. Br J Radiol 2006; 79:968. Diederich, S, Lenzen, H. Radiation exposure associated with imaging of the chest: comparison of different radiographic and computed tomography techniques. Cancer 2000; 89:2457.