Trends in radiology in Finland between 1995 and 2000

The aim of this study was to demonstrate the applicability of a joint nomenclature, i.e., the examination coding system used in Finland, for making a nationwide summary of the radiological examinations and interventional procedures. Another objective was to find trends in radiological practices in Finland between 1995 and 2000 by comparing the nationwide summaries made by Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK). An inquiry for the numbers of radiological examinations performed in 2000 was sent to 473 medical radiation users, i.e., safety license holders obtained from the registry maintained by STUK. In 2000, the proportions of plain radiography, contrast-enhanced radiography, angiography, computed tomography and radiological interventional procedures were approximately 91.1, 1.4, 0.9, 5.0, and 1.5%, respectively (distribution of medical examinations). Between 1995 and 2000, the number of medical X-ray examinations showed a slight decrease from ca. 4.2 million to ca. 4.1 million. During the investigated five years period the frequency of contrast enhanced radiography diminished ca. 50% while the frequency of computed tomography increased ca. 20%. The reported number of ultrasonographic examinations showed a slight increase to approximately 0.5 million, whereas the reported number of MRI examinations increased approximately twofold to approximately 0.1 million. The observed trends in radiological practices are useful in attempts to optimize the resources of STUK in the field of radiological protection.