Health fear over new airport scanners

New X-Ray scanners at British airports could be exposing passengers to potentially dangerous levels of radiation, according to one senior radiologist.

The machines are designed to "strip search" passengers by using low-level X-Rays, which produce an image of their bodies, revealing whether they are secretly carrying weapons, explosives or illegal drugs.

But the scanners may not be safe for certain people, particularly children and women in the early stages of pregnancy, according to Dr Sarah Burnett, who works as an independent radiologist in London.

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Outsourcing raises concerns over quality control

Many X-rays at Carilion Clinic hospitals are being interpreted over the Internet by physicians outside of Roanoke because the valley's largest group of radiology doctors moved most of their practice to Lewis-Gale Medical Center in March.

Carilion has hired some temporary radiologists to read X-ray images and has increased the use of an outsource radiology service for both daylight and nighttime readings.

For doctors changing hospitals, the goal is to keep their businesses independent. For patients, the issues are medical care and where they receive it.

For most of March, after Radiology Associates severed most of its ties that had existed with Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital for nearly six decades, the medical community buzzed about slow turnaround times and questionable readings on many types of radiology scans.

Emergency X-rays, as well as inpatient and outpatient images, weren't functioning the same as before, several doctors said.

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Kodak's Mammography Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) System

Kodak's Mammography Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) System improves cancer detection in screening and diagnostic mammograms with the Mammography Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) System. Improved algorithms now provide even more efficient identification of image areas that warrant a second review. Optional DICOM export functionality eases your transition from film to digital imaging.

A clinical study found that 39.4% of missed cancers (or 77.9% of actionable cancers) could have been detected 14.8 months sooner with the use of the Kodak CAD System versus a radiologist reading alone. It also improves algorithm performance thus enabling radiologists to work even more efficiently with fewer false-positives markers.

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CT Scan = Nuclear Bomb Exposure

Overzealous doctors who order unnecessary body scans that use X-ray technology are placing their patients at risk of cancer, radiologists warn.

According to NewScientist, radiation from such scans is in some cases equivalent to that received by some survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs, they say. In response, hospitals and professional associations are taking new steps to promote more careful use of scanning technologies.

Radiologists are particularly concerned about the use of computed tomography, also known as CT or CAT scans. This technology involves the use of an X-ray generating device that rotates around the patient’s body. These powerful beams are picked up by an array of detectors and used by a computer to generate a three-dimensional view of a body region.

Experts agree that when used correctly, such scans can save lives. However, according to some estimates, the radiation exposure a patient receives from a full-body CT scan is often 500 times that of a conventional X-ray and about the same as that received by people living 2.4 kilometers away from the centers of the World War II atomic blasts in Japan.


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Doctor Warns Of Radiation Exposure "epidemic"

It is time the medical profession became aware of the epidemic of exposure to diagnostic radiation in patients and did something about it, argues radiologist, Steven Birnbaum, in this week's BMJ. And he warns that many doctors, including radiologists, have limited knowledge of the doses and of the potential consequences of the massive increase in diagnostic medical radiation exposure.

He describes his horror as his daughter underwent multiple CT scans after being hit by a car. "I had seen few examples of radiation overexposure in the community hospital setting in which I work and was beginning to act on this," he says. "Now I saw it happen to my own daughter. I was horrified.

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CT Imaging Can Play Important Role In Car Crash Testing

Crash test injuries analyzed with CT imaging provide valuable data that can help engineers develop safer cars and reduce the severity of injuries during car accidents, according to a new study by researchers from The Ohio State University in Columbus.

For the study, two human cadavers were hit with a device that simulates a blunt impact equivalent to car collisions. CT imaging of the rib cages of the cadavers was performed to evaluate the damage caused by the impact. "We found that injuries to the rib cage caused by the simulated car collision could be identified on the CT scans and that the CT results correlated with the usual, more involved methods of body damage analysis, which makes use of high speed videos and data from sensors attached to more than 30 locations on the body during the impact," said Steffen Sammet, MD, PhD, lead author of the study.


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CT Better Than Plain Radiographs In Diagnosing Lumbar Spine Fractures

Lumbar spine fractures in a majority of patients with trauma can be detected by routine trauma abdomen and pelvis CT compared to plain radiographs, according to a recent study conducted by radiologists at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, OH.

The study consisted of 932 patients who underwent plain radiographs and abdomen and pelvis CT within three days of an injury. These patients were divided into groups of: with lumbar spine fracture and without lumbar spine fracture.

According to the study, 180 (19.3%) of the patients had a fracture of the lumbar spine, diagnosed by either modality. Of the 180 patients, CT was positive for fracture in 165 (91.7%) while the plain films were positive for 101 out of 180 patients (56.4%).

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New Technology Useful For Soft-Tissue Imaging In Interventional Radiology

Soft-tissue cross-sectional imaging acquired on a flat panel C-arm fluoroscopic unit located in the interventional radiology area is feasible and useful for interventional radiology procedures, avoiding the necessity of sending patients out to a CT scanner, according to a new study by researchers from the Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute in Miami, FL.

For the study, 35 patient examinations were conducted, covering a diverse range of both vascular and non-vascular clinical application scenarios. The on-location imaging technique was used to evaluate arterial vessel characteristics such as thrombus, calcification, and size.

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New Technology Offers Hope of Safe MRI Exams

Pittsford, NY (April 4, 2007) – While magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is already well established as a premiere non-invasive imaging technology, patients with implantable pacemakers, implantable cardiac devices, neurostimulators and other medical devices are often denied the evaluation their medical situation urgently requires. Why? The simple fact is that device safety is still an issue: People with implantable devices cannot undergo MRI.

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