Radiologists should be able to appreciate the radiation dose delivered to patients for routine diagnostic procedures. The radiology report should include data necessary to calculate the patient close in Gray. Using the effective dose, it is possible to compare with other source of radiation exposure. Simple formulas, taking into account different anatomical regions, derived from dose-area product (conventional radiography) or dose-length product (CT) are provided to calculate the effective close in Sievert. For conventional (non-interventional) radiography, the effective close for a given exam is inferior or equal to the yearly background radiation. For CT, the effective dose corresponds to 1 to 10 years of yearly background radiation.