Not just radiologists but everyone, including patients and referring physicians, needs education on the benefits and risks of radiation exposure from medical imaging studies. That was the conclusion in a nutshell of a memo sent by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements to the imaging community.
Not just radiologists but everyone, including patients and referring physicians, needs education on the benefits and risks of radiation exposure from medical imaging studies. That was the conclusion in a nutshell of a memo sent by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements to the imaging community.
Radiologists, physicists, nuclear medicine physicians, geneticists, and other radiation protection experts gathered in April near Washington, DC, for the council's 2007 meeting. Participants unveiled preliminary findings of an NCRP scientific committee study showing that the amount of radiation dose the U.S. population is receiving from clinical imaging may have increased more than 600% over the last two decades. The study also found that CT scanning, which accounts for about 10% of all imaging procedures, is responsible for almost half of the total estimated effective dose.
"It's no longer sufficient to restrict radiation safety education to radiologists alone," said coauthor Mythreyi Bhargavan, Ph.D., director of research for the American College of Radiology.
Bhargavan also supplied the NCRP with an analysis on imaging utilization trends based on data from public and private sources, including Medicare, the VA, IMV, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Some trends were evident:
Hospitals have the staff and guidelines required to manage imaging equipment and radiation safety that outpatient office settings generally lack. This discrepancy indicates where education efforts should start, but everybody needs a reminder, Bhargavan said.
Radiologists learn the ropes during residency, but they may neglect to calculate doses once in practice. Medical students need to learn what they are subjecting their patients to. Emergency physicians, though under a great deal of pressure, must be aware of the dose factor and contemplate alternative imaging procedures. Referring physicians need to be aware of what they are prescribing to their patients. And patients should understand the risks versus the benefits of an imaging exam before they either demand or fear having one, she said.
What a New Mammography Study Reveals About BMI, Race, Ethnicity and Advanced Breast Cancer Risk
December 8th 2023In a new study examining population attributable risk proportions (PARPs) based on data from over three million screening mammography exams, researchers found that postmenopausal Black women had the highest BMI-related PARP and premenopausal Asian and Pacific Islander women had the highest breast density-related PARP for advanced breast cancer.
Study: Contrast-Enhanced Mammography Changes Surgical Plan in 22.5 Percent of Breast Cancer Cases
December 7th 2023Contrast-enhanced mammography detected additional lesions in 43 percent of patients and led to additional biopsies in 18.2 percent of patients, over half of whom had malignant lesions, according to a study of over 500 women presented at the recent Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) conference.