National toxicology report raises concern among medical physicists

Will report cause Americans to forgo needed X-ray exams?

College Park, MD (January 31, 2005) -- The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), the largest association of medical physicists in the US, is expressing its concern that the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) has added X-rays and gamma-radiation to its list of known human carcinogens. The additions come in the NTP's 11th Report on Carcinogens, which has just been released.

G. Donald Frey, Ph.D., Board Chairman of the AAPM, stated, “X-rays and gamma rays save lives in a countless number of medical procedures. Since the earliest days of X-ray imaging, medical physicists and radiologists have worked together to make procedures as safe and beneficial as possible. I worry that this report may cause patients to forgo needed medical examinations recommended by their physicians. It would be a tragedy if patients did not have needed exams because of fears raised by the report.”

Diagnostic X-rays, fluoroscopy, CT scans, and PET scans have become the modern day standard of care for diagnosing innumerable medical conditions. These procedures are far safer than older forms of diagnosis such as exploratory surgery. Almost every patient has some form of medical X-ray procedure as part of his or her diagnosis and treatment.

Howard Amols, Ph.D., President of the AAPM, stated, “All medical procedures entail some risk, which must always be carefully measured relative to the benefits of the procedure. The risk of not properly diagnosing a patient's medical condition because of fear of a medical X-ray is far greater than the cancer risk of any properly administered radiographic procedure.” He further noted, “One of the key roles that medical physicists provide is to insure that all radiographic equipment is properly calibrated and maintained so as to provide the highest quality images at the lowest possible radiation dose.”

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine is an association of more than 5000 medical physicists headquartered in College Park, MD. More information on AAPM can be found at its website.

More information

G. Donald Frey, Ph.D.
Medical University of South Carolina
843-792-3267
freyd@musc.edu

Howard Amols, Ph.D.
Medical Physics Department
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY
212-639-6807
amolsh@mskcc.org

Ben Stein, bstein@aip.org
Science Writer, American Institute of Physics
301-209-3091