Radiation Exposure News and Research

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Tungsten-antimony breast shield reduces radiation dose to the female breast during chest CT by 43% to 73%

A new custom-designed tungsten-antimony breast shield reduces radiation dose to the female breast during chest CT by 43% to 73% without compromising diagnostic image quality, say researchers from the VCU Health System, Medical College of Virginia Hospitals and Physicians, in Richmond.

16 May 2005

Combining PET and CT scans leads to more accurate radiation therapy for lung cancer patients

Using Positron Emission Tomography in addition to Computed Tomography can reduce the amount of radiation exposure to normal tissue in some lung cancer patients

8 Mar 2005

Cardiovascular experts issue blueprint for safer X-Ray imaging

Millions of invasive cardiovascular procedures that involve the use of potentially hazardous X-rays are done in the United States each year.

8 Dec 2004

Ground breaking research in understanding the characteristics of human skin at very high frequencies

Ground breaking research in understanding the characteristics of human skin at millimetric waveband (MMW) frequencies is being conducted at Cranfield University – academic partner to the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire.

7 Dec 2004

System helps physicians prevent radiation-induced skin injuries to patients

The threading of slender catheters and stents through arteries to deliver treatments to the heart, the brain and elsewhere in the body has produced nothing short of a medical revolution.

4 Dec 2004

Astronaut's eyes may become windows on the bloodstream

Our eyes may become more than windows of the soul if a multidisciplinary team of University of Michigan researchers succeeds with a clever combination of nanoparticles and ultrafast pulsed laser to see individual cells as they zip past in the bloodstream.

29 Nov 2004

Skin cancer rates concern Australian health experts

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks joined The Cancer Council Victoria today to launch the 2004 SunSmart season. Releasing the latest skin cancer rates for Victoria, Professor David Hill, Director of the Cancer Council warned of the human and economic costs to all Victorians if skin cancer rates continue to increase.

30 Sep 2004

Colonoscopy remains the most sensitive test available for detection of colorectal polyps and cancer

A study in today’s issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine reports a miss rate of approximately 10 percent for large (>5mm) precancerous polyps during conventional colonoscopy.

7 Sep 2004

CT scans may be delivering as much radiation as a low-dose atomic bomb

Those full-body CT scans advertised at some health care centers may be delivering as much radiation as a low-dose atomic bomb, according to a new study. And that means people who get them could be raising their cancer risk, researchers from Columbia University report in the journal Radiology (Vol. 232, No. 3:735-738).

5 Sep 2004

Risk of thyroid cancer rises with increasing radiation dose

The risk of thyroid cancer rises with increasing radiation dose, according to the most thorough risk analysis for thyroid cancer to date among people who grew up in the shadow of the 1986 Chernobyl power-plant disaster.

2 Sep 2004

Research provides definitive evidence that radiation risk is associated with full-body CT scans

The risk of cancer mortality from a single full-body computed tomography (CT) scan is modest, but not negligible, and the risks resulting from elective annual scans are much higher, according to a study published in the September issue of the journal Radiology.

31 Aug 2004

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder high among Chernobyl children

In an extensive study of children exposed to varying levels of fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident, Israeli researchers have found that Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) scores are higher among those who were in-utero at the time of the accident -- regardless of their actual level of radiation exposure.

26 Aug 2004

Best approach to removing a diseased thyroid may be from under the arm

The best approach to removing a diseased thyroid, the endocrine gland just under the Adam’s apple that controls the body’s metabolic rate, amazingly may be from under the arm, according to a study published in the August issue of the journal Laryngoscope.

5 Aug 2004

Expansion of Medicare coverage of positron emission tomography to include some Medicare beneficiaries with suspected Alzheimer’s disease

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today that it intends to expand Medicare coverage of positron emission tomography (PET) to include some Medicare beneficiaries with suspected Alzheimer’s disease.

15 Jun 2004

Study shows prostate brachytherapy using ‘Radioactive Seeds’ is an effective alterantive to surgery or external radiation

Radiation oncologists and urologists at The Cleveland Clinic have performed their 1,000th prostate brachytherapy, a type of treatment in which radioactive seeds are implanted in the prostate to destroy cancerous cells.

28 Apr 2004

Dental x-rays when pregnant linked to low birth weight

Research conducted at the University of Washington School of Dentistry shows that women who have dental X-rays during pregnancy are three times as likely to have a low-birth-weight, full-term baby as women who did not have diagnostic X-rays during pregnancy.

27 Apr 2004

Completion of the sequencing of human chromosome 19

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and Stanford University report today the completion of the sequencing of human chromosome 19, the most gene-rich of all the human chromosomes. This achievement is described in the April 1, 2004 edition of the journal Nature.

7 Apr 2004