April 2, 2010
FDA Directive To Reduce Excessive Radiation Exposure During Medical Imaging Procedures
(3/31, DeNoon) reported. "In a sometimes contentious two-day meeting, the FDA has put forward its plan to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure from CT scans, nuclear medicine studies, and fluoroscopy."
FAQ: Radiation Risk From Medical Imaging:
These medical imaging techniques represent only about a fourth of imaging tests that expose U.S. patients to radiation but they expose patients to nearly 90% of the radiation they get from medical imaging.
How much radiation does a person get from medical imaging?
- Getting a CT scan gives a patient as much radiation as 100 to 800 chest X-rays.
- Getting a nuclear medicine study exposes a patient to as much radiation as 10 to 2,050 chest X-rays.
- Getting a fluoroscopic procedure exposes a patient to as much radiation as 250 to 3,500 chest X-rays.
- Even when done properly, medical imaging procedures can damage DNA and increase a person's lifetime risk of cancer.
- In the U.S., a person has a one-in-five lifetime risk of cancer. Imaging can increase this risk.
- ... risk from radiation exposure accumulates over a lifetime.
- Cataracts can develop in eyes directly exposed to radiation.
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