Unnecessarily high radiation doses in scans have been linked to cancers. Under new federal rules, doctors and imaging centers have to more closely track and report the doses of radiation that patients receive.

The scans are estimated to cause 2% of annual cancers — but new measures could keep the radiation levels in check.

A deep-learning algorithm has enabled ultra-low dose CT scans to diagnose pneumonia with only 2% of the radiation of standard scans. The AI dramatically improved image clarity, reducing false positives and making nodules easier to detect.

Hospitals and imaging centers are now required to track and report radiation exposure from CT scans under new Medicare regulations.

In the United States, around 93 million CT scans are performed every year, notes IMV, which is a medical market research company that tracks imaging. The most number of people who are getting these scans are people over the age of 60,