Abstract
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe radiation exposure from cardiac imaging procedures over time in a general population. Background: Cardiac imaging procedures frequently expose patients to ionizing radiation, but their contribution to effective doses of radiation in the general population is unknown. Methods: We used administrative claims to identify cardiac imaging procedures performed from 2005 to 2007 in 952,420 nonelderly insured adults in 5 U.S. health care markets. We estimated 3-year cumulative effective doses of radiation in millisieverts from these procedures We then calculated population-based annual rates of radiation exposure to effective doses ≤3 mSv/year (background level of radiation from natural sources), >3 to 20 mSv/year, or >20 mSv/year (upper annual limit for occupational exposure averaged over 5 years). Results: A total of 90,121 (9.5%) individuals underwent at least 1 cardiac imaging procedure using radiation. Among patients who underwent <1 cardiac imaging procedures, the mean cumulative effective dose over 3 years was 23.1 mSv (range 1.5 to 543.7 mSv). Myocardial perfusion imaging accounted for 74% of the cumulative effective dose. Overall, 47.8% of cardiac imaging procedures were performed in physician offices; this proportion was higher for myocardial perfusion imaging (74.8%) and cardiac computed tomography studies (76.5%). The annual population-based rate of receiving an effective dose of >3 to 20 mSv/year was 89.0 per 1,000; and 3.3 per 1,000 for cumulative doses >20 mSv/year. Annual effective doses increased with age and were generally higher among men. Conclusions: Cardiac imaging procedures lead to substantial radiation exposure and effective doses for many patients in the U.S.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 702-711 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of the American College of Cardiology |
Volume | 56 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 24 2010 |
Keywords
- CT
- MPI
- PCI
- UHC
- United Healthcare
- computed tomography
- myocardial perfusion imaging
- percutaneous coronary intervention
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine