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repeated heart radiation imaging causes cancer risks

Heart test hikes long-term cancer riskStudy highlights danger of repeated radiation doses   CHICAGO SUN-TIMES,  November 16, 2010 BY MONIFA THOMAS A common imaging test that’s used to detect coronary artery disease has exposed many heart patients to extremely high cumulative doses of radiation over a 20-year period, putting them at higher risk for cancer, according to a study presented Monday in Chicago at an American Heart Association conference at McCormick Place.
The study offers a rare snapshot of the cumulative radiation exposure that people get from common medical imaging scans.
“There’s been a lot of attention in recent years on high doses and attendant cancer risks from an individual test, but people hadn’t looked so much over a long period of time at the amount of radiation patients receive from multiple tests,” said lead study author Dr. Andrew J. Einstein of Columbia University Medical Center. “Here, we’re seeing a number of patients who have doses which no longer can be defined as low doses of radiation, at least over a lifetime.”……
“We still need to develop strategies to decrease these cumulative doses.”

Heart test hikes cancer risk :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Lifestyles

November 21, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear costs, radiation, radioactive