Heart Attack Patients See Radiation Levels Equivalent to 725 Chest X-Rays

New research shows that heart attack patients in hospitals typically receive very high dosages of radiation due to various medical tests resulting from that single hospital stay. The average exposure of 14.5 millisieverts (mSv) is equivalent to the amount of radiation from 725 chest X-rays. This amounts to over five times the amount of background radiation Americans get in their routine lives in a given year.

Upon hearing these facts, it is easy for us to become even more uncomfortable with the prospect of heart diagnostics and necessary screens after one becomes a victim of a heart attack. However, the jury is still out on whether or not these levels are a legitimate health risk, according to the researchers.

While the uncertainty of the radiation risks (particularly in their effects upon the likelihood of developing cancer) is rather unsettling, the potential benefits often outweigh these risks. It is important to consider that these radiation risks must be understood within the context of a seriously ill patient who has just suffered a heart attack at the very least.

At least half of the radiation exposure from all procedures was the result of a procedure known as cardiac catheterization. Earlier this semester, we discussed various biotechnological heart procedures; this new research illuminates the radiation levels for some of these procedures. For example, a diagnostic catheterization delivers 7 mSv and adding a stent into an artery delivers approximately 8 mSv. This study is important for patients and physicians alike to consider when opting for certain procedures, but as our previously posted article on CT heart scans indicated, such diagnostic tests prove to have many benefits in both treating ill patients and reducing diagnosis times and associated costs.