By Glenda Fauntleroy, Writer
Patients who have suffered a severe heart attack and are exposed to radiation from medical scans and coronary treatment are at a higher risk for cancer, finds a new Canadian study published online this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Imaging procedures that use low-dose ionizing radiation, such as CT scans and coronary angiography, are becoming increasingly popular to diagnose and treat heart disease, and the study shows there is cause for concern.
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"The principal aim of the study was to establish whether a link exists between low-dose ionizing radiation and cancer, and we found a link," said study co-author Dr. Louise Pilote, director of the Division of General Internal Medicine at McGill University Health Centre in Montreal. "It is now the role of physicians and patients to keep in mind this risk when undergoing tests and procedures."
The researchers evaluated hospital discharge records of 82,861 patients who were admitted to a Quebec hospital for the first time with an acute myocardial infarction between April 1996 and May 2006. The patients had an average age of 63 years.
Of the patients included, 77 percent underwent at least one cardiac imaging test or therapeutic procedure involving low-dose ionizing radiation in the first year after their heart attack. The cumulative exposure to radiation was 5.3 milliSieverts (mSv) per patient year, of which 84 percent was in the first year.
A total of 12,020 incidences of cancers were diagnosed in the patients during the follow-up period. The most affected areas were the abdomen and pelvis, which made up 41 percent of the incidences of cancer found. Almost 27 percent were cancers of the thorax, which included breast cancer.
The study concluded that for every 10 mSv of low-dose ionizing radiation a patient was exposed to, there was a 3 percent increase in the risk of developing cancer within 5 years.
The authors suggested that these results should call into question whether the "current enthusiasm for imaging and therapeutic procedures after acute myocardial infarction should be tempered."
