科研之友
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摘要
Background: Awareness of radiological risk is low among doctors and patients. An educational/decision tool that considers each patient%26apos;s cumulative lifetime radiation exposure would facilitate provider-patient communication. %26lt;br%26gt;Aim: The purpose of this work was to develop user-friendly software for simple estimation and communication of radiological risk to patients and doctors as a part of the SUIT-Heart (Stop Useless Imaging Testing in Heart disease) Project of the Tuscany Region. %26lt;br%26gt;Methods: We developed a novel software program (PC-platform, Windows OS fully downloadable at http://suit-heart.ifc.cnr.it) considering reference dose estimates from American Heart Association Radiological Imaging 2009 guidelines and UK Royal College of Radiology 2007 guidelines. Cancer age and gender-weighted risk were derived from Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation VII Committee, 2006. %26lt;br%26gt;Results: With simple input functions (demographics, age, gender) the user selects from a predetermined menu variables relating to natural (e. g., airplane flights and geo-tracked background exposure), professional (e. g., cath lab workers) and medical (e. g., CT, cardiac scintigraphy, coronary stenting) sources. The program provides a simple numeric (cumulative effective dose in milliSievert, mSv, and equivalent number of chest X-rays) and graphic (cumulative temporal trends of exposure, cancer cases out of 100 exposed persons) display. %26lt;br%26gt;Conclusions: A simple software program allows straightforward estimation of cumulative dose (in multiples of chest X-rays) and risk (in extra % lifetime cancer risk), with simple numbers quantifying lifetime extra cancer risk. Pictorial display of radiation risk may be valuable for increasing radiological awareness in cardiologists.
