Chapter 1 Radiologic Units
Know the following radiologic units as they are used extensively in the radiologic program. In
the US radiology community, the conventional units of R, Rad and Rem are often used instead of
the SI units, however the SI units are now appearing in text books and are being used extensively
by the scientific community.
Roentgen: Abbreviated – R; conventional unit of radiation exposure or intensity.
- Radiation intensity that will create 2.08 x 108 ion pairs/ cm3 IN AIR.
- Official definition: 2.58 x 10-4 Coulomb/kg
- Radiation monitors and X-ray imaging units usually specified in milliRoentgens.
ONLY APPLIES TO X-RAYS AND GAMMA RAYS IN AIR.
- R=0.01 Gy(a) Gy(a)= Gray(air) unit of Air Kerma in SI system
(Note: R is a smaller unit than the Gy(a)
Rad: Radiation Absorbed Dose – used when describing quantity of radiation absorbed by a
patient.
- Applies to any type of ionizing radiation and any exposed matter (not just air).
- Rad = 0.01 Gy(t) Gy(t) = Gray(tissue), unit of absorbed dose in SI system.
(Note: Rad is a smaller unit than the Gy(t))
Rem: Radiation Equivalent Man – used when expressing radiation received by radiation
workers and populations. Rem is the unit for Equivalent Dose or Effective Dose
Equivalent, terms used to specify the relative risk of biologic effect caused by radiation
exposure. It takes into account the differences in biological effectiveness of different
types of radiation, not just X-rays (EqD), and the radiation sensitivity of organs and tissue
to the absorbed radiation (EfD).
Rem = 0.01 Sv Sv = Seivert, unit of equivalent or effective dose in SI system.
(Note: Rem is a smaller unit than the Sv)
For X-ray exposure to humans: 1R = 1 Rad = 1 Rem ; this is not necessarily true for
other types of ionizing radiation.
