Research with ionizing radiation
During some types of medical scientific research, subjects are exposed to ionizing radiation. Since this can lead to certain health risks for the subjects, it is important to make a comparative assessment of these risks and the potential benefits of the research.
In order to develop univocal guidelines regarding this subject, a subcommittee of the Netherlands Commission on Radiation Dosimetry (NCS) summarized the existing literature about the risks of radiation exposure for patients and healthy volunteers participating in clinical research. The conclusions of this literature study and the resulting recommendations are described in the report Human exposure to ionizing radiation for clinical and research purposes which was published in May 2016. Investigators and MRECs can use this report to make a comparative assessment of the risks of ionizing radiation for subjects and the possible benefits of the research for the individual patient, a group of patients, society and/or science.