Large Nuclear Cardiology Laboratory Slashes Radiation Dose By 60% In Eight Years

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A large nuclear cardiology laboratory has slashed its average radiation dose by 60% in eight years, according to new research presented today at ICNC 2017 and published in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.1,2 The study in over 18 000 patients shows dose reductions were achieved despite a large number of obese patients.

A large nuclear cardiology laboratory has slashed its average radiation dose by 60% in eight years, according to new research presented today at ICNC 2017 and published in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.1,2 The study in over 18 000 patients shows dose reductions were achieved despite a large number of obese patients.

"There has been concern amongst the medical community and the public that the radiation from medical diagnostic tests could increase the risk of cancer," said Professor Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at the Mid America Heart Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, US.

He continued: "Although the risk of harm from an individual nuclear cardiology test is very low - even very conservative estimates suggest only one in 1 000 extra patients would develop cancer 20 years later - the cumulative dose from multiple medical diagnostic tests may be a concern."

Medical societies advocate getting radiation doses as low as is reasonably achievable. There are ways to do this but surveys show that adoption of new technologies, which cost money, and new testing algorithms, which take more physician time, has been slow.

Continue reading at European Society of Cardiology