Multiple Heart Scans Linked To Cancer Risk

Feb. 23, 2011 - PRLog -- Slightly increased cancer risk for heart patients who receive multiple imaging scans of low-dose radiation, as Canadian doctors are calling rates further.

The results of the investigation in the Monday edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal are targeting the medical community that more heart patients, as experts encourage people not to be afraid.

In Canada and the United States, doctors increasingly for imaging tests and treatments using low-dose ionizing radiation in people with heart disease or suspected of having, several studies show.

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Most recent tests such as CT and radionuclide scanning have replaced the previous examinations, which traditionally does not use radiation, such as treadmill exercise test, the researchers say.

Now, the association of radiation exposure and cancer is becoming apparent, cardiologists caution in those procedures should be carefully considered. This is particularly true when the patient has a series of tests to help doctors diagnose the condition, but cannot really improve the prognosis, they say.

“We found that a significant proportion of patients were exposed to high levels of low-dose ionizing radiation from the cardiac imaging and therapeutic procedures after acute myocardial infarction,” Dr. Mark Eisenberg of the Division Cardiology and Clinical Epidemiology at the Jewish General Hospital and co-authors concluded.

“We have shown that exposure to radiation from the cardiac imaging was associated with an increased risk of cancer in this patient population.”

The study looked at hospital data and 82,861 patients who had a heart attack in Quebec between April 1996 and March 2006, but did not have cancer. Of this amount, 77 percent had at least one heart with the low dose of ionizing radiation, within one year of the attack.

The study period of three years was 12 020 cancers were found, two thirds of cases of cancer in the abdomen or pelvis and chest areas, the researchers found.

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