[ RadSafe ] Low dose x-ray exams does not increase cancer risk in kids

[stewart farber]

A reference I just located related to my question below about the new study
reported from Germany.

The US FDA Bureau of Rad Health states [2009 data] that the Typical
Effective Dose for a single Chest x-ray [PA Film] is 0.02 mSv
See:
http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/RadiationEmittingProductsandPr
ocedures/MedicalImaging/MedicalX-Rays/ucm115329.htm

Again, how could the German study referred to below [AJR: "Low-dose x-ray in
kids does not increase cancer risk" ] have found a group of 78000 children
exposed to a median effective dose of only 0.005 mSv in x-ray exams?? 

Stewart Farber

================================

-----Original Message-----
From: stewart farber [mailto:SAFarber at optonline.net] 
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 12:40 PM
To: 'The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List'
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Low dose x-ray exams does not increase cancer risk
in kids

The link provided is a summary of the research paper, but this summary
states that the:

"median cumulative effective dose for all patients was 5 uSv (0.005 mSv)"  [
0.5 milli-Rem ]

The summary does state that this study excluded those children who received
CT scans or received average doses more that 10 mSv. But 5 uSv median
effective dose? This is equal to less than a day or two of background
radiation. Why would any researcher ever have expected to tease out an any
increase in cancer rates against an average background exposure more than
5,000 times higher over the period ??

Would even a single chest x-ray procedure in Germany between 1976 and 2003
yield a "median effective dose of 5 uSv [ 0.5 mR ]? 

Were they including kids who had an x-ray of a broken bone in the hand only?
Has anyone seen the paper itself? If so what kinds of procedures were lumped
into this study?  With doses like this it would seem that this study has no
relevance to the kinds of medical diagonostic imaging procedures being done
most often today, or to any radiation exposure situation of concern.


Stewart Farber, MSPH
Farber Medical Solutions, LLC
Bridgeport, CT 06606
email: SAFarber at optonline.net
203-441-8433



-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of David Englehart
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 7:36 AM
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Low dose x-ray exams does not increase cancer risk in
kids

Health Imaging (6/28) reported, "Children exposed to low doses of
x-ray radiation do not exhibit higher rates of cancer, a valuable
empirical insight that can supplement theoretic radiation models and
inform pediatricians, according to a large German study published in
the July issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology." For the
study, Gaël P. Hammer, from the Institute for Medical Biostatistics,
Epidemiology and Informatics at Johannes Gutenberg University Medical
Center in Mainz, Germany, and colleagues, "reviewed the records of
78,527 children who underwent x-ray exams between 1976 and 2003 at a
large academic hospital in Munich." The researchers found, "A total of
68 cancers were identified in the study cohort, yielding a
standardized incident ratio of 0.97 based on the population-based
estimate that 70 patients would experience cancer."
http://www.healthimaging.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=2
8491

David Englehart MS
Medical Physicist
The Medical Physics Group Ltd.
St. Louis, MO
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