Radiation Dose to Patients From Cardiac Diagnostic Imaging

T he volume of cardiac diagnostic procedures involving the use of ionizing radiation has increased rapidly in recent years. Whereas in 1990, fewer than 3 million nuclear cardiology studies were performed in the United States, by 2002 this figure more than tripled to 9.9 million. 1 Cardiac computed tomographic (CT) volume doubled between 2002 and 2003, to 485 000 cases, 2 and has continued to grow since then. The volume of procedures performed in cardiac catheterization labs increased from 2.45 million in 1993 to 3.85 million in 2002. he powerful diagnostic and risk-stratification data provided by these procedures play a central role in clinical cardiology and have contributed to the decrease in morbidity and…

• NR
  National Research Program for Biopharmaceuticals
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• NC
  National Center for Research Resources