What is dose creep, and how can it be prevented?

• A. Dose creep is a gradual increase in patient dose over time due to relaxed exposure practices; prevent by adhering to dose optimization and standard presets.
• B. Dose creep is a gradual decrease in patient dose over time due to overzealous dose reduction.
• C. Dose creep is a short-term peak in dose during a single exam.
• D. Dose creep only occurs in film-screen radiography.

Answer: (A)

Dose creep is a gradual rise in the patient’s radiation dose over time, usually because exposure practices drift upward. In practice, technique factors or protocols may slowly become more aggressive or less optimized, and because this happens across many exams, the cumulative dose to patients increases even though no single study looks unusual. The danger is that the increase isn’t obvious from one exam but adds up over years, raising overall risk.

Prevention centers on keeping exposure practices tight and consistent. Rely on dose optimization and standard presets so every exam starts from a safe, evidence-based baseline. Use dose monitoring and reference levels to detect drift, regularly update and review imaging protocols, and ensure proper use of automatic exposure controls. Minimize repeats, calibrate equipment, and train staff to tailor settings to the patient’s size and clinical need rather than defaults that creep upward. Dose creep isn’t about a single peak or a one-modality issue, and it isn’t a decrease—it’s that slow, cumulative rise that careful protocol management aims to stop.