Adult CT radiation doses drop nearly 22% over past decade, updated benchmarks show

New U.S. data from 2025 show adult CT diagnostic reference levels have dropped an average of 22% since 2014, with dose-length product down 20%. Chest CT with contrast had the largest decline at 31%, while head CT without contrast saw only a 4% reduction.

• Dose reductions relative to 2014 were greatest for chest exams with contrast (31%) and without (27%), followed by smaller declines in other categories.
• The analysis included approximately 5.2 million CT exams from nearly 600 U.S. healthcare facilities, using structured data from the Imalogix radiology optimization platform.
• Advances such as machine learning-based reconstruction, improved tube and detector technology, and protocol optimization likely contributed to the population-level dose decreases.

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