Medical radiation exams in South Korea rose nearly 30% over the past five years, with computed tomography accounting for more than two-thirds of the public's total radiation exposure despite making up less than 4% of all scans.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on the 28th it had published the 2025 annual report on national medical radiation exposure. Medical radiation exams totaled 431.59 million last year, or 8.4 per person, up 4.6% from a year earlier.
The number of exams climbed 29.6% from 333.13 million in 2021 to 431.59 million last year. Exams per person rose to 8.4 from 6.4 over the same period. Total collective dose increased 22.6% to 167,659.18 man·Sv from 136,804.73 man·Sv, while the dose per person rose to 3.24 millisieverts from 2.64 millisieverts.
By type, conventional X-rays were the most common at 329.61 million exams, or 76.4% of the total, but accounted for 27.4% of radiation exposure. CT scans numbered 16.34 million, just 3.8% of all exams, yet delivered 112,420.49 man·Sv, or 67.1% of total exposure. While CT is useful for detailed diagnosis, the radiation dose per scan is relatively higher than that of conventional X-rays.
By type of facility, clinics performed the largest share of exams at 43.7%, followed by general hospitals at 25.1% and hospitals at 17.4%. General hospitals accounted for the largest share of radiation exposure at 66.8%.
The agency attributed the rise in medical radiation use to advances in medical technology, population aging and wider use of health screenings. Rather than avoiding necessary exams, it said patients should consult medical staff to receive appropriate testing while cutting back on unnecessary repeat exams and excess exposure.
"Medical radiation exams are an essential medical service for diagnosing and treating disease," KDCA Commissioner Lim Seung-kwan said. "Patients should feel safe receiving necessary exams, and we will continue to disseminate justification guidelines for diagnostic medical imaging and diagnostic reference levels so that unnecessary exams and excess exposure can be reduced."
