Policy statement of the International Organization for Medical Physics.

q American Association of Physicists in Medicine, 2013 Editor’s Note: We are pleased to reprint an editorial by William R. Hendee, PhD, editor of Medical Physics, on the policy statement on radiation risks recently adopted by the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP). In our recent editorial entitled “Through the Looking Glass Revisited: The Need for More Meaning and Less Drama in the Reporting of Dose and Dose Reduction in CT” (1), we stressed the need for a rational and quantitatively meaningful approach to the reporting of radiation dose in computed tomography. In their policy statement on reporting risks associated with medical imaging, the IOMP goes a bit further, highlighting the substantial imprecision in estimating population cancer risk and noting the dangers of extrapolating risk estimates for radiation doses of less than 100 mSv. The IOMP further emphasizes the need to recognize the reduction in morbidity and mortality and costs associated with imaging exams when considering the issue of radiation risk. I encourage our readers and authors to read the policy statement carefully and to use it as a guide when addressing these issues in the medical literature and in their practices. —Herbert Y. Kressel, MD