THURSDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Recommendations for additional imaging in radiology reports at one institution increased steeply in recent years, and from 1980 to 2006, radiologic and nuclear medicine procedures increased roughly 10-fold and 2.5 fold, respectively, according to two studies the November issue of Radiology.

Christopher L. Sistrom, M.D., of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues analyzed data from 5,948,342 diagnostic imaging examinations interpreted by 555 radiologists at their institution from 1995 to 2008. The odds of an examination resulting in a recommendation for additional imaging rose by 2.16 times. The odds of such a recommendation fell by about 15 percent with each additional decade of the radiologists' experience.

Fred A. Mettler Jr., M.D., of the New Mexico VA Health Care System in Albuquerque, and colleagues analyzed data on radiation sources from the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements and the United Nations Scientific Committee on Effects of Atomic Radiation. The United States accounts for about 12 percent of radiologic procedures and half of nuclear medicine procedures performed worldwide. The annual effective dose from medical procedures per person increased from about 0.5 mSv in 1980 to 3.0 mSv in 2006 in the United States.

"One possible causal mechanism for the increase beginning in 1995, was that resolution and information density of images obtained with improving equipment and viewed on more sophisticated soft-copy workstations results in more observations that would prompt an recommendation for additional imaging," Sistrom and colleagues write. "Other factors include malpractice concerns, as well as changes in reporting styles, practices, and mechanics (e.g., speech recognition and use of templates)."

Abstract - Sistrom
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Abstract - Mettler
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