nuclear-news

Warning on radiation risks of medical heart imaging

clinicians need to take into account “justification” (is it really necessary?) and optimization (is it at the lowest dose possible?) of the tests.

Cumulative Radiation Doses Seen in Cardiac Imaging, July 9 (HealthDay News) — Cardiac imaging procedures, the use of which has exploded in the United States in recent years, are exposing patients to potentially cumulative doses of radiation, according to the largest analysis of its kind.But experts really don’t know whether the amounts of radiation are harmful or what the long-term effects will be, according to new research published online July 7 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The analysis, which covered nearly one million adults in five parts of the United States, found that almost one in 10 people under 65 had a heart procedure involving radiation from 2005 to 2007.

About half (47.8 percent) of the imaging was done in physicians’ offices, and older individuals, men in particular, tended to have more exposure…….

According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, about 70 million CT scans are now done in the United States each year. And according to background information in the article, nearly 10 million myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) procedures were performed in the United States in 2002.

Einstein suggested that clinicians need to take into account “justification” (is it really necessary?) and optimization (is it at the lowest dose possible?) of the tests.

And, he added, carefully selecting which tests to use when can also minimize risk………….

More information

The Radiological Society of North America has more on cardiac nuclear testing.

Cumulative Radiation Doses Seen in Cardiac Imaging

August 2, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive