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Radiation Overexposure from CT Scans More Widespread
Posted by: William Cirignani
December 15, 2009

The CBS Evening News (12/14, story 3, 2:20, Lapook) reported, "The problem of too much radiation during CT scans may be more widespread than anyone thought." In fact, "new research...found a wide variation in radiation dose for the most common CT scan like abdomen, pelvis, and chest. A survey of four hospitals found some patients received 13 times more radiation than others for the same type of scan."

NBC Nightly News (12/14, story 8, 2:10, Bazell) reported, "Depending on the part of the body being scanned, each CT exposes a patient to an amount of radiation equal to between 30 and 440 chest X-rays." But, in a separate study, "researchers calculated that 72 million CT scans are performed in this country a year and concluded that could lead to 29,000 excess cancers and 15,000 excess deaths a year in the future."

In that study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers at the National Cancer Institute "found that people may be exposed to up to four times as much radiation as estimated by earlier studies," USA Today (12/15, Szabo) reports. But, James Thrall, chairman of the American College of Radiology, noted that "scientists have not yet determined whether low doses of radiation actually increase cancer risk, or whether the risk rises only after exposure levels reach a certain threshold."

Meanwhile, the second study, appearing in the same journal, of over 1,000 patients at four hospitals, showed that one woman out of 270 and one man out of 600 would suffer from cancer after undergoing a single heart scan at age 40, the Wall Street Journal (12/15, A3, Wang) reports. Researchers noted that the differences in radiation doses may be due to a lack of standardized settings and disparities in technology use.

The Los Angeles Times (12/15, Maugh) reports that, in an accompanying editorial, Dr. Rita F. Redberg, editor of the journal, noted that "the articles...make clear that there is far more radiation from medical CT scans than has been recognized previously." Redberg said, "Even many otherwise healthy patients are being subjected to the radiation...because emergency [departments] are often sending patients to the CT scanner before they see a doctor." Dr. Michael S. Lauer, of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, added that "there are no clinical trials that show such imaging saves lives."

Bloomberg News (12/15, Ostrow) reports that in the National Cancer Institute study, "the authors predicted that lung cancer will be the most common radiation-related cancer followed by colon cancer and leukemia." For its part, the FDA "issued interim regulations Dec. 7 requiring closer monitoring of CT scans after more than 250 cases of exposure to excess radiation were reported since October." Still, Donald Frush, chairman of the American College of Radiology's Pediatric Imaging Commission and chief of the division of pediatric radiology at Duke Medical Center, said, "We can't lose what the benefits of CT scanning are," calling CT "one of the most invaluable medical advancements in the last 100 years."

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Medicare To Stop Paying When Hospitals Cause Injury
Posted by: William Cirignani
July 07, 2007

Medicare wants to stop paying for avoidable injuries in hospitals and several major private insurance companies are expected to follow the lead.  Denying payment for such injuries (listed below) will raise a red flag for patients, letting them know that at least some of the hospitalization came from hospital error.  The avoidable injuries being targeted include:

1.     Catheter-associated urinary tract infections.

2.     Bed sores.

3.     Objects left in after surgery.

4.     Air embolism, or bubbles, in bloodstream from injection.

5.     Patients given incompatible blood type.

6.     Bloodstream staph infection.

7.     Ventilator-associated pneumonia.

8.     Vascular-catheter-associated infection.

9.     Gastrointestinal infections.

10.     Drug-resistant staph infection.

11.     Surgical site infections.

12.     Wrong surgery.

13.     Falls

The proposed regulations are open for comment and are planned to take effect in October 2008. (www.medlaw.com, May 30, 2007)

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Staph Superbug Infests Hospitals
Posted by: William Cirignani
July 07, 2007

A dangerous, drug-resistant staph germ may be infecting as many as 5 percent of hospital and nursing home patients.  According to a survey by Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, at least 300,000 U.S. hospital patients may have the superbug at any given time.  The bug is called: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which is not susceptible to common antibiotics.  This infection can lead to skin infections (“flesh-eating”) and other illnesses and is potentially fatal.  The most alarming aspect is that it can be spread by touch and has been known broken out in communities like prisoners, children and athletes (called, “community-associated spread”).  The settings with the highest risk are those where people have open wounds. (AP – June 25, 2007)

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