Radiation Hormesis in the Scope of Radiology: A Review Article

Abstract

Background: According to the radiation hormesis hypothesis, low-dose ionizing radiation is not only dangerous, but also can even reduce the number of cancers in the irradiated community. The aim of this study was to evaluate radiation hormesis in the field of radiology. Methods: The search was conducted through Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Web of science databases using the keywords of Ionizing radiation, Dose response, Hormesis, Low-dose radiation, Radiology, Radiation worker, and Patient in the period of 1990-2019. Findings: In the early stages of the search, 1230 studies were found in databases. Finally, by reviewing the titles and abstracts of the articles, there were 38 articles related to the research topic. After careful consideration, four main areas were categorized including genetics area with 14 articles, cell area with 16 articles, animal area with 2 articles, and human area with 6 articles. Conclusion: The effect of radiation hormesis has been rejected in some studies and confirmed in some others; but has not been demonstrated in radiation conditions similar to those found in radiology for patients and radiation workers. To confirm or disapprove this dose response model, detailed studies should be performed on radiation conditions such as different radiological tests in terms of beam type, beam energy, dose, and radiation dose rate.

Keywords

• radiation
• hormesis
• radiology