It wants more protective measures

Apr 29, 2009 14:25 GMT  ·  By

Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believe that high-tech medical scanners, while perfectly fit to detect hidden diseases and tumors inside patients, could use some improvements, in terms of protecting the people that go in them from the harmful effects of too much radiation. Having already teamed up with a host of other international organizations, the agency is planning to devise and implement a few basic guidelines, as well as some new protection measures, in hopes of reducing individual irradiation levels as much as possible.

On way of doing this, health experts say, is by creating what has been called a Smart Card, a credit card-like device that would basically log exactly how much radiation every person has been subjected to over the course of their lives.

“The medical application of ionizing radiation is the fastest growing source of radiation exposure to human beings today. We acknowledge the great value of the new technologies, but want to ensure that each and every examination is justified. The radiation protection of patients is also important,” the IAEA Radiation Safety and Monitoring Section Director, Renate Czarwinski, explained.

One of the main sources of concern for modern radiation intoxication is the rapidly growing number of people who turn to complicated procedures such as computed tomography (CT) scans, rather than have their health assessed by conventional X-ray radiography.

The IAEA expected the problem to go out of control, so it created the Radiological Protection of Patients (RPoP) Unit as far back as 2001. The international agency is the most important player in the global radiation protection decision-making processes.

“Our objective is that the radiation protection of patients is given increased attention by health professionals, manufacturers, trainers and policy makers. We're attacking the issue from every angle and interest in the field is growing. The RPoP website, which offers information for health professionals and to some extent for patients, is receiving about half a million hits a month,” Madan Rehani, who is a Radiation Safety specialist for the IAEA, said.

“A major concern at the moment is the growth in the number of CT scans being done around the world, especially in the developed countries. The results and the benefits are so good that there's a tendency to overuse the technology,” the President of the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists (ISRRT), Robert George, added.

The expert explained that generic guidelines at an international level could be established to ensure that people used CT scans within reasonable limits, and without abusing both the machines and themselves.