[ RadSafe ] Cumulative Radiation Exposure Shows Increased Cancer Risk for Emergency Department Patients

[ROY HERREN]

http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/press/pressitem.asp?ref=1740
Cumulative Radiation Exposure Shows Increased Cancer Risk for Emergency Department Patients

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SOCIETY FOR ACADEMIC 
EMERGENCY MEDICINE
UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL May 29, 2008 (12:01 AM ET)
Contact:
Sean Wagner
Wiley-Blackwell
781-388-8550
swagner at wiley.com
Cumulative Radiation Exposure Shows Increased Cancer Risk for Emergency Department Patients
According to a new study, patients are receiving estimated doses of radiation from medical diagnostic imaging studies, such as CT (or “CAT”) scans, that may be detrimental to their long term health, putting them at an increased risk of developing cancer. To date, emergency physicians have not been made aware of the cumulative amount of radiation that their patients receive. In fact they currently have no way to know or estimate any given patient’s cumulative dose. A new study hopes to quantify and further explore these concerns.
Led by Timothy B. Bullard, M.D., M.B.A of the Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC), the cross-sectional study examined the amount of ionizing radiation that a random selection of patients received over a five-year period at ORMC and Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. The study is the first to estimate the total cumulative radiation dosage delivered to a population from multiple diagnostic imaging modalities during a defined period of time. 
Patients had an average cumulative estimated effective radiation dose of 45.0 milliseiverts, with CT scans and nuclear medicine studies contributing the most radiation. Twelve percent of the sample population was estimated to have received 100 or more millisieverts of radiation, a value that exceeds the accepted threshold of safety for exposure to low level ionizing radiation. If study patients are representative of the general emergency department population, then a substantial number of people may be placed at increased risk of developing cancer over their lifetime from diagnostic imaging studies as a result of these exposures.
“Our research hopefully will affect the habits of physicians who routinely order medical imaging diagnostic studies in their practices,” says Bullard. “We also hope that our research will further promote the need for electronic medical records with portability and encourage the development of an individual patient cumulative exposure estimate tool.”
The presentation is entitled “Cumulative Radiation Exposure and Cancer Risk from Diagnostic Imaging in Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department.” This paper will be presented at the 2008 SAEM Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. on May 29, 2008, in the moderated poster session beginning at 3:00 p.m. in Exhibit Hall A of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Abstracts are published in Vol. 15, No. 5, Supplement 1, May 2008 of Academic Emergency Medicine, the official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.
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Press Room – 2008 SAEM Annual Meeting, May 29-June 1, 2008,Washington, D.C.
Location Park Tower Suite #8229
Tel: (202)-328-2000 (ask for the SAEM Registration Desk)
Fax: (202)-234-0015 2 (mark for attn of Maryanne Greketis or Sandra Rummel)
Contact Sean Wagner (swagner at wiley.com) to arrange for an interview prior to or during the SAEM Annual Meeting. Dr. Bullard can be reached directly at timothy.bullardmd at orhs.org.
About The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (www.saem.org)
The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) is a national non-profit organization of over 6,000 academic emergency physicians, emergency medicine residents and medical students. SAEM's mission is to improve patient care by advancing research and education in emergency medicine. SAEM's vision is to promote ready access to quality emergency care for all patients, to advance emergency medicine as an academic and clinical discipline, and to maintain the highest professional standards as clinicians, teachers, and researchers. The SAEM Annual Meeting attracts approximately 2,000 medical students, residents and academic emergency physicians. It provides the largest forum for the presentation of original research in the specialty of Emergency Medicine. 
About Academic Emergency Medicine (www.aemj.org) 
AEM is a peer-reviewed journal whose goal is to advance the science, education, and clinical practice of emergency medicine, to serve as a voice for the academic emergency medicine community, and to enhance the goals and objectives of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM). Members and non-members worldwide depend on this journal for translational medicine relevant to emergency medicine, in addition to clinical news, case studies and more.
About Wiley-Blackwell
Wiley-Blackwell was formed in February 2007 as a result of the acquisition of Blackwell Publishing Ltd. by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and its merger with Wiley’s Scientific, Technical, and Medical business. Together, the companies have created a global publishing business with deep strength in every major academic and professional field. Wiley-Blackwell publishes approximately 1,400 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and an extensive collection of books with global appeal. For more information on Wiley-Blackwell, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com or http://interscience.wiley.com. 
Media ContactSean Wagner
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