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Bloomberg.com: Australia & New Zealand

CT Heart Imaging Increases Radiation Dose to Patients

By Elizabeth Lopatto

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — Heart scans on average expose patients to radiation equivalent to getting 600 chest X-rays at once, according to the first study to measure emissions from the procedures.

Doctors aren’t always aware of the doses and many don’t use the best methods for reducing the radiation, said Thomas Gerber, the Mayo Clinic researcher who did the study. The average exposure from computerized tomography, or CT, scans of the heart was 885 milligrays per centimeter, according to the study, published in tomorrow’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The authors of the study recommended that doctors limit the use of CT heart scans……………………………Exposure to radiation increases the chance of getting cancer, and the risk varies from patient to patient, said Andrew Einstein, the author of an editorial in the journal, in a telephone interview. In a 60-year-old woman with one exposure to CT scanning, the risk of cancer might be 1 in 700, while in younger patients, particularly females, it could be higher, Einstein said. Two tests would double the risk, he said.

Bloomberg.com: Australia & New Zealand

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium

February 5, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized