Radiation Therapy for Heart Attack?

Posted on November 17, 2009 by David Oliver

Americans are exposed to seven times as much radiation from diagnostic scans as we were in 1980 according to the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement. Now Reuters is reporting that a typical heart attack patient receives a radiation dose equivalent to 725 chest X-rays over the course of his or her treatment. That cumulative dose is made of up X-rays, angiograms and CT scans received throughout the patient's care.

While the doses are nonetheless small and the risk therefore de minimis one has to wonder whether or not our fondness for exotic and expensive diagnositic procedures won't ultimately run afoul of the law of unintended consequences.

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