Jan
25
Dr. Juliet Fallah, DMG Radiation Safety Officer, Discusses our Low Exposure Diagnostic Imaging/Radiology Department
Filed Under DuPage Medical Group News
At DuPage Medical Group, your health is most important. That’s why we developed our ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) program to minimize radiation exposure. We also adhere to the FDA’s recommendations for imaging and are part of the Image Gently campaign. This means you can count on us to get the quality images you expect in the safest manner possible.
What are we doing to minimize radiation exposure?
- We are monitoring the doses of every patient scanned on the 64-detector scanners. Based on our findings, we have altered our protocols across the board to minimize radiation dose as much as possible, particularly in younger patients and patients who are scanned frequently. At DMG, all of our CT scanners are American College of Radiology (ACR) certified and meet the latest quality guidelines.
- We routinely use breast shields in female patients under 60 years of age.
- Our physicians have been made aware of these issues when ordering studies, particularly in young patients or patients with chronic conditions, such as Crohn’s disease. In particular, we try to avoid ordering multi-phase (e.g., pre- and post- contrast) studies without a clear indication.
- We assess real risk-benefits from each study.
- We make every effort to try to obtain imaging histories from old charts and from patients.
- The Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) is informed of all radiation issues that may arise in our practice.
- The RSO is also informed of excessive CT exposure. We have set a threshold of 5 abdominal/pelvic, chest, or neck CT scans in anyone less than 40 years of age with benign diagnoses, based on our current dose estimates for the studies we perform. We are monitoring on a case-by-case basis those patients who may have had excessive exposure from multiple CTs. The CT technologists or radiologists bring these cases to the RSO’s attention. The RSO then reviews the case, the imaging, and the clinical indications, and calls the clinician if needed to determine if an additional CT is appropriate. A letter to the ordering clinician(s) may be sent, as well as to the patient in the case of more frequent exposure (more than 10 CTs). In addition, these patients’ Electronic Medical Record will be annotated in a fashion similar to contrast allergy such that radiologic consultation will be required for further CT imaging. Further management on a case-by-case basis may become necessary if continued exposure is ongoing.
- We have created wallet-sized cards, available in our imaging center lobbies, where patients can keep a written record of all imaging studies they receive. We feel that a radiation record for each patient is important, similar to an immunization record.
DuPage Medical Group began this radiation safety program in April of 2009, when the medical literature had reflected the scope of this problem. We are committed to providing the highest level of imaging excellence, at the lowest possible dose to our patients. We will continue to search for ways to minimize radiation dose to our patients. Our mission is, truly, to “image gently.”
Dr. Juliet Fallah works at our Naperville on Rickert Drive location. She welcomes questions regarding minimizing radiation doses. Please call 630-364-7444 and ask to speak to Dr. Fallah. She will make every effort to be available for concerned patient’s calls.