Little impact of tsunami-stricken nuclear accident on awareness of radiation dose of cardiac computed tomography: A questionnaire study

BMC Research Notes

Kyu-Hyung Ryu¹  Seong Woo Han²  Soon Yong Suh⁴  Eui-Jong Chung³  Hyun Kyun Ki³  Hyun-Joong Kim³  Sung Hea Kim³ 

[1] Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, 40, Sukwoo-Dong, Hwaseong-Si, Gyeonggi-Do 445-170, South Korea;Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Seoul, South Korea;Department of Internal Medicine, Konkuk University School of Medicine, 1, Hwayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, South Korea;Heart Center, Gachon University of Medicine and Science, Gil Hospital, Incheon, South Korea

关键词: Awareness;    Questionnaires;    Radiation dose;    64-channel MDCT;   

Others  :  1142814
DOI  :  10.1186/1756-0500-6-170

 received in 2011-12-07, accepted in 2013-04-18,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

With the increased use of cardiac computed tomography (CT), radiation dose remains a major issue, although physicians are trying to reduce the substantial risks associated with use of this diagnostic tool. This study was performed to investigate recognition of the level of radiation exposure from cardiac CT and the differences in the level of awareness of radiation before and after the Fukushima nuclear plant accident.

Methods

We asked 30 physicians who were undergoing training in internal medicine to determine the equivalent doses of radiation for common radiological examinations when a normal chest X-ray is accepted as one unit; questions about the absolute radiation dose of cardiac CT data were also asked.

Results

According to the results, 86.6% of respondents believed the exposure to be 1 mSv at most, and 93.3% thought that the exposure was less than that of 100 chest X-rays. This finding indicates that their perceptions were far lower than the actual amounts. Even after the occurrence of such a large nuclear disaster in Fukushima, there were no significant differences in the same subjects’ overall awareness of radiation amounts.

Conclusions

Even after such a major social issue as the Fukushima nuclear accident, the level of awareness of the accurate radiation amount used in 64-channel multidetector CT (MDCT) by clinical physicians who order this test was not satisfactory. Thus, there is a need for the development of effective continuing education programs to improve awareness of radiation from ionizing radiation devices, including cardiac CT, and emphasis on risk-benefit evaluation based on accurate knowledge during medical training.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Kim et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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Figure 2.

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