Radiation Lawyer
FDA May Require Safer CT Scans to Prevent Unnecessary Radiation
By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
The Food and Drug Administration is considering new safeguards for CT scanners and other imaging machines to prevent patients from receiving unnecessary radiation exposure, officials said Tuesday.
Doctors and patients have become increasingly concerned about the risks of medical radiation, which research shows could cause 29,000 new cancers a year. In December, published research showed that medical imaging tests - which includes PET scans, barium swallows and other scans - may expose people to four times as much radiation as estimated by earlier studies. Americans' exposures to radiation have nearly doubled over the past two decades, largely because of tests such as CTs, the FDA says.
The FDA also has been investigating the accidental overdoses of hundreds of patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and other hospitals across the country, that led some to suffer side effects such as burns and hair loss. Some patients who were scanned for suspected strokes received up to eight times the normal amount of radiation.
To reduce the risk of future accidents, the FDA may require that imaging machines display patients' radiation doses and sound an alert if doses go above certain levels, the FDA's Jeffrey Shuren says. The FDA also wants to create a national registry to measure how much radiation patients are really receiving - as opposed to how much they should receive - for each procedure.
The FDA plans to work out exact requirements at a meeting in March. But the agency would like scanners to be able to make electronic records of radiation doses so patients can keep track of their cumulative exposure, Shuren says. The FDA also wants patients to get a card that records their radiation dose after each procedure.
Yet none of these steps will prompt doctors to reduce the number of unnecessary scans performed because of financial incentives, fear of lawsuits or because earlier scans aren't readily available, says David Brenner, director of Columbia University Medical Center's Center for Radiological Research.
He suggests patients ask doctors if they can safely delay a scan, or opt for a test that doesn't involve radiation, such as an MRI, or a test that uses less radiation, such as an X-ray. When children need a scan, he says, parents should ask that they get the right dose for their age and size.
Contact Radiation Overdose Attorney W. Craft Hughes
Radiation lawyer W. Craft Hughes is actively reviewing cases involving victims improperly exposed to radiation by medical providers. If you or a fmaily member have suffered a serious injury or a loved one died after receiveing excessive radiation, you may be eligible to file a claim. Please complete our firm's Excessive Radiation Client Questionnaire to contact personal injury and excessive radiation attorney W. Craft Hughes.
If you or a loved one developed new cancer tumors or suffered any severe injury due to excessive radiation as a patient, Craft Hughes Law, P.C. can assist you in holding the hospital or medical facility accountable. Please click here to contact a radiation lawyer W. Craft Hughes, or telephone personal injury and excessive radiation attorney W. Craft Hughes toll-free at (888) 350-3931. There is no charge or obligation for our review of your case.
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