National Toxicology Program Report Misleading and May Negatively Impact Patient Care
Medical Imaging by Qualified Providers is Key to Patient Safety
January 31, 2005
Contact: Shawn Farley
(703) 648-8936
(703) 203-0977
E-mail: shawnf@acr.org
RESTON, Va – The recent National Toxicology Program’s 11th Report on Carcinogens, which adds ionizing radiation (x-rays and gamma rays) to its list of known carcinogens, is misleading and could potentially cause patients to avoid getting much needed care. The American College of Radiology (ACR) holds that appropriately utilized radiological procedures administered by trained, certified medical physicists and technicians in conjunction with radiologists, radiation oncologists, and nuclear medicine physicians pose no undue health risk to patients.
Radiological procedures are medically prescriptive in nature and are only to be utilized for specific purposes when patient benefit outweighs potential risk. These procedures are to be used by appropriately trained and certified radiologic providers under specific, medically necessary circumstances, in a controlled, medical environment for the investigation and discovery of disease or injury. Radiologists work closely with medical physicists to ensure that the amount of radiation used in exams is the least dose necessary to obtain the optimal medical image.
“X-rays and gamma rays are not substances that the general public has access or exposure to and do not belong on a list of substances that pose a risk to people in the course of their normal, daily lives. This report could lead patients to mistakenly believe that they are being placed at undue risk by undergoing a radiological procedure and cause many, who may desperately need care, to avoid seeking appropriate medical attention,” said James Borgstede, MD, FACR, chairman of the ACR Board of Chancellors. “Radiologists, medical physicists, radiation oncologists and nuclear medicine physicians are expertly trained professionals who have worked in coordination to produce strict guidelines and standards for the administration and interpretation of radiological procedures. When these guidelines and standards are followed by appropriately trained and certified physicians, there is no undue risk to the patient,” said Dr. Borgstede.
The potential for hazard exists when unqualified providers administer radiological procedures. More than half of non-hospital imaging performed in the United States is now done by nonradiologists1, even though radiologists, radiation oncologists, and nuclear medicine physicians are the providers who have received years of unique, specific, post medical school training in the performance of radiological procedures and their effect on the human body.
Medical imaging procedures require a skill set which is inherent to radiology. Utilization of medical imaging procedures by unqualified providers may needlessly expose patients to radiation and may expose patients to radiation levels that could be unduly hazardous.
The ACR calls on all physicians for appropriate utilization of medical imaging procedures and asks that legislators, government agencies, and private payers join the ACR in ensuring that only qualified providers administer and interpret radiological procedures in certified, accredited facilities.
To arrange an interview with Dr. Borgstede or another ACR member, please contact ACR Public Relations Manager Shawn Farley at (703) 648-8936 Office, (703) 203-0977 Cell, or via e-mail at shawnf@acr.org.
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The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists, with programs focusing on the practice of radiology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.
1 - Sunshine JH, Bansal S, Evans RG. Radiology performed by non-radiologists in the United States: Who does what? AJR . 1993;61:419-429.