Cardiac Imaging May Expose Patients to High Radiation

If you cruise the blog, you'll see my longstanding and personal reasons for declining mammography. With anything involving radiation, you HAVE TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK. The left hand (e.g., dentist) doesn't know what the right hand (mammographer) is doing, and you end up with your cumulative exposure.

And if you think well, they medical establishment wouldn't expose me to anything Harmful, think again. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Sometimes it can feel like a burden to take responsibility for your own healthcare, but on the other hand, it's very empowering. If you dig a little, you may be SURPRISED at whta you find.

The following is from Newswise, the journalists' only site, the study is from the highly respected JAMA.

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Newswise — Use of the imaging technique known as cardiac computed tomography (CT) angiography (CCTA) has the potential to expose patients to high doses of radiation, and methods available to reduce radiation dose are not frequently used, according to a study in the February 4 issue of JAMA.

The 64-slice (able to scan 64 images per rotation) CCTA has emerged as a useful diagnostic imaging method for the assessment of coronary artery disease and has been proposed to be useful for evaluating patients in emergency departments with chest pain. “With the constantly increasing number of CCTA-capable scanners worldwide, the volume of CCTA scans performed is likely to show substantial further increase,” the authors write. They add that the clinical usefulness of CCTA for the assessment of coronary artery disease has to be weighed against the radiation exposure of CCTA and the small but potential risk of cancer. Many clinicians may still be unfamiliar with the magnitude of radiation exposure that is received during CCTA in daily practice and with the factors that contribute to radiation dose, according to background information in the article.