TRENDS IN X-RAY-DIAGNOSIS AND NUCLEAR-MEDICINE

The trend of the diagnostic process in diagnostic radiology and nuclea r medicine is influenced by several factors in all countries with opti mal health care. It is mainly attributable to changes in the structure of the population, to the disease frequency in relation to age, avail able diagnostic procedures, therapeutic possibilities and, also, to th e trends in diagnostic techniques. Such tendencies are also of major i nfluence on radiation exposure, including efficacy and efficiency meas ures of the diagnostic and therapeutic process and, of course, of the underlying disease, finally resulting in better health care and in hig her life expectancy. The main reasons for changes in diagnosis are con sidered in this paper. Data collected in several countries, mainly in Europe, illustrate the different trends which, generally speaking, sti ll increase the total number of examinations and, in spite of better r adiation protection, reducing certain examinations methods, are still increasing the frequency of examinations in general as well as the est imated collective population dose per year.