title: Cumulative radiation dose from medical imaging in kidney transplant patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although many patients undergoing kidney transplant are exposed to multiple examinations that increase cumulative effective doses (CEDs) of ionizing radiation, no data are available characterizing their total longitudinal radiation burden and relating radiation burden with risk factors for more exposure.
  
  
  METHODS
  We did a retrospective cohort study of 92 patients (mean age 52 years; range: 20-75 years) who underwent kidney transplant at University Hospital, Novara, Italy, that evaluated all following medical imaging procedures involving ionizing radiation undergone beginning June 2007, and all subsequent procedures through August 2011, at the centre.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean and median annual CED were 17.2 and 4.9 millisieverts (mSv) per patient-year. The mean and median total CED per patient over the study period were 46.1 and 17.3 mSv, respectively. Twenty-eight and 12% of patients had total CED >50 and 100 mSv, values which are associated with a good or strong evidence of an increased cancer mortality risk, respectively. Computed tomography scanning accounted for 73% of the total CED. The annual CED was significantly higher in incident patients and in patients with ischaemic heart disease and cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this institution, multiple testing of kidney transplant patients was common in many patients associated with high cumulative estimated doses of ionizing radiation.
authors.affiliation: Nephrology Department, University Hospital Maggiore della Carità, Novara, Italy.
authors.forename: Andreana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Mauri
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brambilla
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Izzo
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Matheoud
authors.forename: Doriana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chiarinotti
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carriero
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stratta
authors.forename: Martino
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Leo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult