Abstracts from Around the World

Recent attention has focused on the potential deleterious effects of radiation exposure from medical imaging procedures. Experimental and epidemiologic evidence suggests that low dose exposure to ionizing radiation may result in the development of solid tumors and leukemia. Medical personnel are limited to a maximum of 50 mHv in a given year. This large retrospective cohort study uses claims data from United Healthcare in selected regions of the United States over a 2-year period (2005–2007). Codes were used to identify patients undergoing imaging procedures. The approximate radiation exposure was calculated for each of these tests. A mean of 1.2 ± 1.8 procedures were identified per person per year. Medical imaging procedures with the largest contribution to the cumulative dose include myocardial perfusion imaging (15.6) and computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen (8) comprising 22% and 18% of the total effective dose from all study procedures, respectively.