New York Injury Lawyer Blog

Medical testing is exposing patients to too much radiation, which could soon be the cause of as many as 1 in every 50 cancer cases, MSNBC reported.

Americans get the most medical radiation in the world -- nearly half of all advanced medical procedures that use radiation are conducted in the United States. While we worry about airport scanners, power lines and cell phones, our exposure to radiation has grown sixfold over the past couple of decades, primarily because of exposure to medical radiation. Patients who are injured as a result of excessive exposure to medical radiation should contact a New York City medical malpractice attorney to discuss their rights.

Too much radiation raises the risk for cancer and the risk to patients is growing because of excessive image testing. MSNBC uses as an example the case of a New Hampshire teenager who had undergone 14 CT scans because of kidney stones. After the physician's daughter was given too many scans following a car accident, the doctor did some research at two hospitals. He found 50 patients over a three-year period who had received too much radiation, which he defined as more than 10 CT scans in a lifetime or more than five scans for patients under 40.

The use CT scans, or so-called "super x-rays," has soared over the last decade, often replacing other tests that don't require radiation, including ultrasounds and MRIs. Complicating the matter is the fact that there are no federal regulations governing exposure to medical radiation, except for mammograms. Young women and children are often most at risk, especially at busy imaging centers that don't adjust doses for a patient's size.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has taken notice of the issue and claims to have several safety steps in the works, including the possibility of having device makers print the radiation dose on x-rays and images so doctors and patients are more aware of the exposure. Establishing a radiation medical record that would follow a patient throughout his or her life would also lower the risks.

Using nuclear disasters, like the 1986 meltdown of the Chernobyl power plant, experts believe the risk of cancer increases after exposures of 50 to 150 millisieverts (a measurement of radiation dosage). A CT scan typically involves an exposure of 10 to 20 millisieverts, versus less than .1 for an X-ray and 1 for a mammogram.

A study last year estimated that 4 million Americans get more than 20 millisieverts from medical imaging each year. Another study by Columbia University researchers found that as many as 2 percent of all future cancer cases in the U.S. could be the result of overexposure to radiation in today's medical environment.