Radiation tests at VA hospital questioned

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>]

The following article was published this morning. It does not say 
anything as to when these tests were conducted.  I expect that this 
will undoubtedly receive a lot of media attention, and we in the HP 
profession should be cognizant of this.

LOS ANGELES (July 31, 1997 10:21 a.m. EDT) -- Dozens of patients 
taking part in veterans hospital research may have been exposed to 
risky doses of radiation without their knowledge, the "Los Angeles 
Times" reported Thursday.

However, doctors at the Veterans Administration medical center in Loma
Linda said they've engaged in no improprieties despite the claims of
the facility's top radiation safety officer, Moussa Raiszadeh, the
newspaper said.

"If I was adequately convinced that patient safety ... was
safeguarded, I would have dropped this issue on the first day,"
Raiszadeh said. "I want to do my job. If I don't report this, there is
no one else who would."

At issue is whether the patients received dangerous levels of
radiation, whether they knew of the potential risks and whether an
in-house review of safety concerns was conducted impartially.

The VA inspector general's office in Washington said Wednesday it will
send investigators to the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Affairs
Medical Center to explore the complaints and other issues.

Raiszadeh, who was supposed to monitor research protocols, discovered
last year that two studies involving work on kidneys, another on tear
ducts and a fourth on breast cancer were being performed without his
knowledge.

For one test, he said, radiation reached a level of 5,900 mRads, which
experts say is the equivalent of 230 routine chest X-rays. None of the
patients has shown signs of illness from the radiation.

After reviewing study procedures and patient consent forms, Raiszadeh
told administrators in a memo that the patients in one project "did
not have a clue" what was being done to them, the paper said.

Raiszadeh also charged that patients were being subjected to seven
times more radiation than the protocol allowed because of researchers'
miscalculations.

But the research teams reviewed each other's work and concluded
Raiszadeh was misinterpreting protocols and data for research outside
his professional expertise.

The human research committee, which reviewed the matter, was headed by
Paul Hammond, a kidney specialist who played a role in two projects.

"No patients have had excessive radiation exposure at all," he said.
"We want to put this to sleep because it's a nonissue."

Hospital Director Dean Stordahl agreed and scaled back Raiszadeh's
authority. He explained that, on matters of radiation testing on
humans, he deferred to the expertise of medical doctors over a Ph.D.
Raiszadeh has a Ph.D. in radiopharmaceutical science.

At the newspaper's request, a British researcher reviewed Raiszadeh's
findings and was shocked.

"How could these people have planned an experiment and not even
consulted the radiation people to see if they were working in safe
limits?" said Dr. Alice Stewart, a radiation epidemiologist credited
with linking low-dosage X-rays on pregnant women to leukemia in their
children.

------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
Fax:    (714) 668-3149
  
mailto:sandyfl@ix.netcom.com
mailto:sperle@icnpharm.com

ICN Dosimetry Website:
http://www.dosimetry.com (~ July 27)

Personal Homepage:
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"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -