As you may know, on Tuesday, the
National Council for Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP) issued a
report stating that Americans were exposed to seven times more radiation
from medical imaging exams in 2006 than they were in 1980.
Radiation exposure is always a hot topic and
has garnered a significant amount of media attention over the past several
years. Some of this attention can alarm patients, as did the November
2007 NEJM study which claimed that up to 2 percent of all cancers
can be attributed to radiation received from CT scans.
The College
immediately issued a response to the latest NCRP report advising patients
to consider the information within the report in its proper context and to
discuss any concerns about radiation exposure with their doctor. It is
important for people to understand the undeniable benefits of medical imaging
in early detection and staging of diseases, and not to forgo testing out of
fear.
Although the NCRP report did not go into
causes of the dramatic increase in dose, the NCRP’s executive director did, at
a recent international conference, identify self-referral as a primary driver
of the trend.
The ACR response and statements by College
spokespersons made clear the tie between self-referral and increased imaging in
a resulting Reuters
Health article and in other print and broadcast news
reports.
The NCRP study also served as an opportunity
for the to College to publicize what steps have been done thus far to lower
dose, like the adoption of principles such as ALARA (as low as reasonably
achievable), the Image GentlySM campaign (www.imagegently.org),
and ACR
Appropriateness Criteria® (www.acr.org/ac) which can help physicians
prescribe the most appropriate imaging exam for more than 200 clinical
conditions.
I would like to know:
- What are your overall thoughts on this NCRP report?
- Have you had patients ask you about radiation risk as a result of
the report and the associated media coverage?
- What do you tell them?
*Note: Keep in mind your comments will be in
the public domain.
Although the available data on radiation and cancer risk has many faults, it's an issue we have to address. This issues comes up constantly among residents here, both in radiology and often more so in other services. I'm a second year radiology resident and we recently launched a website trying to answer some of these questions for patients and physicians. It's at www.xrayrisk.com. It allows a user to calculate cancer risk based on studies they have had. I hope the site will prompt informed discussions when discussing risks.
Posted by: Mike Hanley | April 03, 2009 at 03:18 PM