The American College of Radiology wants accreditation requirements for advanced imaging centers to be extended to hospitals and all clinical settings that perform advanced imaging and radiation therapy procedures, according to Dr. E. Stephen Amis Jr., former ACR chair.
Monica Hogan is with “The Gray Sheet.” This publication and “The Gray Sheet” are published by Elsevier.
CT Makers Unveil Safety Features
Manufacturers of computed tomography machines have agreed to standardized features to ensure that patients receive appropriate radiation doses.
In a conference call with reporters, Dave Fisher, executive director of the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA), said the industry had been working for years to make CT machines safer and that the timing of the announcement (Feb. 25) was not related to the Food and Drug Administration's recent heightened interest in radiation or the impending House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing.
The FDA planned to hold an advisory committee meeting on radiation safety March 30-31.
The five CT manufacturers—General Electric, Siemens, Philips, Toshiba, and Hitachi—agreed to participate in the MITA “dose check” initiative, said Mr. Fisher.
First, machine operators will receive an on-screen alert—possibly a pop-up window—when they exceed recommended dose levels. The alert is akin to a yellow caution flag, said Mr. Fisher. The recommended (reference) dose will be determined by clinicians at hospitals and imaging centers, not manufacturers, he said.
The second safeguard will be a warning if the dose reaches hazardous levels that could result in burns, hair loss, or other injuries. This “red flag” can be configured to prevent the scan, Mr. Fisher said.
Finally, manufacturers will standardized the storage of images so they can be incorporated into a registry proposed by the Obama administration.
The new features should be available by early 2011 as software upgrades to older machines or add-ons to new scanners. The process may be delayed for possible regulatory clearance by the FDA, said Mr. Fisher.
—Alicia Ault