Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Parrish Medical Center - (Page 47)

Radiation risk from a mammogram is low—and the exam could be lifesaving It comes as cosmic rays from outer space. It emanates from Earth’s crust. We’re exposed to it every day just because we are alive. It causes cancer. It kills cancer. And in one common use—the mammogram—it saves women’s lives through early detection of breast cancer. It’s radiation. “We live in a world of radiation,” says Priscilla Butler, medical physicist and senior director of breast accreditation programs for the American College of Radiology. She and other experts urge women to relax about mammograms, which use radiation, like all X-rays. “The amount in a typical mammogram is very low,” Butler says. “The beneﬁt from mammograms is signiﬁcant: Mammograms save lives.” As the author of Mammography & Breast Imaging: Just the Facts and a clinical instructor in radiology, Olive Peart, agrees: “There is nothing to worry about,” she says. Still, this is radiation we’re talking about. And our breasts. Currently, the mammogram is the only widely used X-ray cancer screening to check people who are symptom-free, says Robert Smith, director of cancer screening for the American Cancer Society. To put you at ease, let’s review what radiation is and how mammography quality and safety have come a long way. JUST PASSING THROUGH Radiation is a form of energy. A variety of sources, such as natural elements, the sun, an X-ray and a microwave oven, emit radiation. Two kinds—ionizing radiation and ultraviolet radiation—are known to damage or kill cells in our bodies, which, in turn, may cause cancer. X-rays use ionizing radiation (as do CT scans, but at higher levels) to penetrate the body. X-ray radiation does not “stay” inside us. It passes through as the breast image is recorded. (This may give you comfort during your next exam: Breasts are compressed so less radiation has to pass through.) Today’s radiation dosage during a mammogram is comparable to the amount of background radiation we’re exposed to naturally over three months, according to the American College of Radiology. Radiation doses are 50 times less than in the 1970s, according to the Food and Drug Administration. And the images are better, Smith adds. “Dose has declined even more with the introduction of digital mammography,” Smith says. The effective dose from a twoview digital mammogram, which means the image is on a computer screen and not on ﬁlm, requires about .44 mSv (a way to measure radiation) and ﬁlm, .56 mSv. Most mammograms are now digital. Peart adds, “Digital takes a lot of the guesswork out of the [exposure]. It automatically selects the [exposure] for that particular tissue.” PHOTOGRAPH BY PHOTOLIBRARY BY C.J. HUTCHINSON Vim & Vigor · SUMM ER 2011 47

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Parrish Medical Center

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Parrish Medical Center
Contents
Tasty Tips
Opening Thoughts
Community Calendar
What’s New?
Navigating the Healthcare Waters
Girl Talk
Say What?
Action Plan
Like This? Try That!
On the Cover
A Day in the Life of Your Heart
Unexpected Heroes
Get in Gear
A Real Lifesaver
Extras, Extras
Community Health
Thriving With Diabetes
Foundation Focus
Ask the Expert

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Parrish Medical Center