Research

CT scan radiation varies widely

Two recent studies show that radiation dosages from computed tomography (CT) scans can range as high as three times that associated with increased cancer risk.

A study based on data from four San Francisco area hospitals showed that median doses ranged from 2 millisieverts (mSv) for a routine head scan to 31 mSv for a more complicated, multiphase scan of the pelvis and abdomen.

In studies of survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs, exposure of 10 mSv is associated with an increased cancer risk.

A second study demonstrated that even within the same hospital, dosages for the same scan could be widely different, with 13 times the dosage being the median variation.

Researchers say these findings have additional importance because the number of diagnostic CT scans has increased from 3 million nationally in 1980 to 70 million in 2007. A modeling study based on these results indicates that as many as 29,000 future cancers in the US could be related to CT scans performed in 2007.

Read more about the studies in Nursing Times.

Look younger, live longer

That’s not a tag line from a new pharmaceutical, but rather a summary of findings in a study published recently in the British Journal of Medicine.

The findings are from a study by Danish researchers, who conducted physical and cognitive tests on 1,800 pairs of twins over age 70. Three independent groups of people estimated the age of each of the twins, and the researchers tracked mortality over the next seven years.

People who looked younger than their actual age were much more likely to survive, even after adjusting for gender, environment and other factors. And the greater the difference in perceived age within any pair of twins, the more likely that the older appearing twin would die first.

Researchers suggest that perceived age, which is widely used by doctors as an indicator of good health, is indeed a good predictor of survival among the elderly.

Evidence-based medicine: Keeping abreast of the latest research is hard to do

In recent years, about 10,000 peer-reviewed articles have been published annually in medical journals. So it should not be a shock that some of the new findings are not immediately adopted by physicians. Or that physicians might be keeping up with evidence-based changes in their own area of practice, but might not be as familiar with breakthroughs in another specialty.

Use of technology is considered one important step for health care providers to keep up-to-date with medical research.

For more information, see the full article in MedPage Today.