CT (CAT)Scan Radiation Overdoses

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CT (CAT) scan machines manufactured by General Electric and Toshiba are at the center of a nationwide probe involving dangerous radiation overdoses

Update 8/2/2010

A New York Times investigation published in July 2010 found that the CT scan radiation overdose scandal was far worse than what the FDA reported. According to the Times, more than 400 people around the country received radiation overdoses during CT brain perfusion scans.

The botched scans occurred at other hospitals not previously mentioned in the FDA alerts. These included: Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center, where one patient received seven and a half times the amount generally used; Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, where 16 people received up to five and a half times too much; South Lake Hospital in central Florida, where an unknown number of patients received 40 percent more than usual; and an unidentified hospital in San Francisco.

The Times piece also shed new light on why these overdoses may have occurred. At Alabama’s Huntsville Hospital, an inspection by GE Healthcare, maker of the scanners used there, found that technicians purposely used high levels of radiation to get clearer images. According to the New York Times, experts have called that practice “unjustified and potentially dangerous.”

At two hospitals that use Toshiba scanners — Los Angeles County-U.S.C. and South Lake in Florida — officials said the manufacturer suggested machine settings that ultimately produced too much radiation.

At Cedars-Sinai, where the overdoses involved machines made by GE Healthcare, officials have blamed the overdoses on a feature that can automatically adjust the dose according to a patient’s size and body part. According to The New York Times, this feature was touted by GE as “a technical innovation that significantly reduces radiation dose.”

Technicians at both Cedars-Sinai and Glendale Adventist utilized this feature for brain perfusion scans, but later found that when used with certain machine settings that govern image clarity, the automatic feature did not reduce the dose — it raised it. The hospitals claim that GE trainers never fully explained the automatic feature. According to The New York Times, Cedars-Sinai said GE never mentioned the “counterintuitive” nature of the automatic feature during multiple training sessions there.