Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUnifeed
IAEA / MEDICAL RADIATION
STORY: IAEA / MEDICAL RADIATION
TRT: 1.13
SOURCE: IAEA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: MAY 2009, VIENNA, AUSTRIA/ BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA
1. Close up, CT scan results from the monitor
2. Med shot, patient being scanned
3. Close up, radiologist
4. Wide shot, patient being scanned with X-ray in foreground
5. Close up, CT scan results from the monitor
6. Wide shot, patients waiting
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Robert Koscura, Radiologist:
“The boom under which radiology now is probably a little bit challenging for the future because now sometimes we don’t know if we can continue with so much examinations at that rate, at that pace for the good of the patients, because we don’t know what will happen to the patients with these radiation doses.”
8. Wide shot, IAEA building
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Madan Rehani, IAEA Radiation Safety Specialist,
“We certainly don’t intend to create fear of radiation. We certainly want to say that the use of X-ray is more beneficial than the harm. The harm is much less than the benefits associated.”
10. Close up, CT scan results from the monitor
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Donald P. Frush, Chief, Division of Paediatric Radiology, Duke University Medical Center:
“Smart card technology should be used, among possibilities, to track procedures and to track the radiation doses that might result from those procedures.”
12. Med shot, patient in operating room
13. Close up, radiologist examining results
14. Wide shot, radiologist at the operating room
Advances in medical imaging are allowing doctors to detect hidden disease and make more accurate diagnoses. But experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) say that over use of high-tech scanning procedures may unnecessarily expose patients to increased radiation.
Concerns surround procedures like CT scans. They deliver higher doses of radiation to patients. The average radiation dose of one CT scan is equal to about 500 chest X-rays. And that can increase a patient’s lifetime risk of cancer, particularly if the CT scans are repeated.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Robert Koscura, Radiologist:
“The boom under which radiology now is probably a little bit challenging for the future because now sometimes we don’t know if we can continue with so much examinations at that rate, at that pace for the good of the patients, because we don’t know what will happen to the patients with these radiation doses.”
It’s an issue that has caught the attention of the world’s nuclear authority. The IAEA wants greater emphasis given to radiation protection of patients.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Madan Rehani, IAEA Radiation Safety Specialist,
“We certainly don’t intend to create fear of radiation. We certainly want to say that the use of X-Ray is more beneficial than the harm. The harm is much less than the benefits associated.”
But the IAEA does want to cut down on unnecessary radiation exposure. The agency says there is potential to reduce radiation doses of up to 50 percent.
A “Smart card” to register how much radiation a person receives in the course of a lifetime, is part of the plan.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Donald P. Frush, Chief, Division of Paediatric Radiology, Duke University Medical Center:
“Smart card technology should be used, among possibilities, to track procedures and to track the radiation doses that might result from those procedures.”
It’s an ambitious plan. But developing X-ray machines that provide the radiation dose from an examination, should eventually allow this data to be included in medical records. Better still, to be included the electronic health cards that more and more people carry today.
Download
There is no media available to download.
