Breast cancer risk increases

Breast cancer risk increases with repeated CT Nuclear Estimates :

Researchers reviewed the records of about 250,000 women included in an integrated system to provide health services found that the increased use of CT between 2000 and 2010 could result in an increased risk of breast cancer in some women, even younger patients and receiving the repeated examinations. According to the study, which was presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), nuclear medicine examinations can also help increase breast cancer risk.CT ionizing radiation such as X-ray use produces cross-sectional images of the body. In nuclear medicine imaging, radio-pharmaceuticals - a compound that includes a small amount of a radioactive material - is given in the body to help visualize internal organs.

"When a woman undergoes CT or nuclear medicine imaging of the chest, abdomen or spine, breast tissue can absorb some of the radiation," said lead author Rebecca Smith-Bind-man, MD, professor of radiology and imaging Bio-medical at University of California, San Francisco. "Breast tissue is one of body tissues known to be susceptible to developing cancer as a result of exposure to radiation."

The study, led by Ginger Feliz, MD, MPH, fellow breast images Prentice Women's Hospital - Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, found that among the female members of the system, the use of CT increased by 99.8 TC 1,000 women in 2000 to 192.4 CT scans per 1,000 women in 2010 (an annual increase of 6.8 percent). In 2010, 46 percent of CT scans of the chest exposed to radiation. Nuclear medicine imaging lines declined from 39.3 per 1,000 women in 2000 to 27.5 lines per 1,000 women in 2010 (a decrease of 3.5 percent per year), however, in 2010, 84 percent of nuclear medicine studies exposed to radiation from the breast.

"So far, the impact of the increasing use of images in radiation exposure to breast tissue and subsequent risk of breast cancer is unknown," said Dr. Smith-Bindman. "Our goal was to quantify the use of imaging and radiation exposure to the breast among women who participated in delivery of integrated health system and use this data to determine the risk of images related to breast cancer in these studies. "

The research team collected information CT dose of 1,656 patients that underwent CT examinations exposed to radiation from the breast and, using a new method of automated calculation calculates the effective radiation dose patients and the amount of radiation absorbed in the chest. The team also analyzed the volume radio-pharmaceutical and associated radiation exposure to 5507 used in nuclear medicine procedures that exposed his chest to radiation. "We found that the estimated radiation dose for breast CT were highly variable between patients, with higher doses coming multipurpose cardiac CT and chest, where successive images are captured studied organ," said Dr. Smith-Bind-man.

Then, the researchers estimate that women images related to risk of breast cancer and compared it to the underlying risk of developing breast cancer. Every woman of 10 years of images related to the risk of developing breast cancer, starting 10 years after exposure to images and based on your age at exposure was estimated using the statistical model specifics chest radiation risk. The risk of a woman developing breast cancer underlying estimated based on data collected by the National Cancer Institute, Surveillance Consortium funded breast cancer.

"Young women who receive multiple CT heart or chest had the highest increase in the risk of developing breast cancer by 20 percent," said Diana Miglioretti, Ph.D., study co-author and principal investigator at Group Health Research Institute. "A girl of 15 years, no risk factors for breast cancer 10 years would double the risk of developing breast cancer at 25."

To download images related to the risk of developing breast cancer, Dr. Smith-Bind-man said image providers must analyze the radiation dose associated with each test, reducing the use of multiphase protocols and dose reduction using the software provided to minimize exposure possible.

"If you truly images indicated, the risk of cancer is small and should not deter women get tested they need," he said. "Moreover, many patients experience chest and cardiac CT repeat, many of which are not necessary. Women, and especially young women, should understand that there is a small but real potential risk of breast cancer associated with cardiac and CT chest, and the risk increases with the number of scans. "