brain scan overdoses at Celeb. hospital (crime scene)

[ensho]

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/brain-scans-disaster-at-celebrity-hospital-1801019.html


Brain scans disaster at celebrity hospital

Patients given eight times the normal radiation dose


With a patients' roll call that reads like an Oscars' party guest list, Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre is used to making the headlines. But the hospital has found itself making them for the wrong reasons this weekend after it admitted exposing more than 200 of its patients to excessively high doses of radiation from CT brain scans.


The hospital to the stars is under federal investigation following the debacle, which went undetected for 18 months. Patients receiving CT brain scans, used to diagnose strokes, were given eight times the normal dose of radiation in incidents dating back to February 2008, the hospital admitted yesterday.

All 206 patients affected have been alerted – although around 80 already suspected something was wrong after their hair started falling out. Officials at Cedars-Sinai said they became aware of the problem in August after a patient who had received a scan noticed an unexpected loss of hair, which should not have happened. All hospitals in the US have now been urged to review their safety protocols for CT scans, and California's Department of Health is investigating the overdoses.

-snip-

Although the hospital briefly stopped administering the CT brain perfusion scans, it is now offering them again. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the hospital could face restrictions on doing CT scans under its state licence.
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" All hospitals in the US have now been urged to review their safety protocols for CT scans,"


URGED!

this is bad

[berni_mccoy]

1. If someone is losing hair from a CT scan, then they've received a HUGE amount of radiation.

A CT scan is like receiving several x-rays at once. There is a limit to how many scans are safe.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Do you think they will be told.... remember, this is the gubmint site...

1: Adv Exp Med Biol. 2008;614:165-78.
Links
Antioxidants reduce consequences of radiation exposure.
Okunieff P, Swarts S, Keng P, Sun W, Wang W, Kim J, Yang S, Zhang H, Liu C, Williams JP, Huser AK, Zhang L.

Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.

Antioxidants have been studied for their capacity to reduce the cytotoxic effects of radiation in normal tissues for at least 50 years. Early research identified sulfur-containing antioxidants as those with the most beneficial therapeutic ratio, even though these compounds have substantial toxicity when given in-vivo. Other antioxidant molecules (small molecules and enzymatic) have been studied for their capacity to prevent radiation toxicity both with regard to reduction of radiation-related cytotoxicity and for reduction of indirect radiation effects including long-term oxidative damage.

Finally, categories of radiation protectors that are not primarily antioxidants, including those that act through acceleration of cell proliferation (e.g. growth factors), prevention of apoptosis, other cellular signaling effects (e.g. cytokine signal modifiers), or augmentation of DNA repair, all have direct or indirect effects on cellular redox state and levels of endogenous antioxidants. In this review we discuss what is known about the radioprotective properties of antioxidants, and what those properties tell us about the DNA and other cellular targets of radiation.



1: Toxicology. 2003 Jul 15;189(1-2):1-20.
Links
Protection against ionizing radiation by antioxidant nutrients and phytochemicals.
Weiss JF, Landauer MR.

Office of Health Studies, US Department of Energy, EH-6/270 Corporate Square, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585-0270, USA. [e-mail]

The potential of antioxidants to reduce the cellular damage induced by ionizing radiation has been studied in animal models for more than 50 years. The application of antioxidant radioprotectors to various human exposure situations has not been extensive although it is generally accepted that endogenous antioxidants, such as cellular non-protein thiols and antioxidant enzymes, provide some degree of protection. This review focuses on the radioprotective efficacy of naturally occurring antioxidants, specifically antioxidant nutrients and phytochemicals, and how they might influence various endpoints of radiation damage.

Results from animal experiments indicate that antioxidant nutrients, such as vitamin E and selenium compounds, are protective against lethality and other radiation effects but to a lesser degree than most synthetic protectors. Some antioxidant nutrients and phytochemicals have the advantage of low toxicity although they are generally protective when administered at pharmacological doses. Naturally occurring antioxidants also may provide an extended window of protection against low-dose, low-dose-rate irradiation, including therapeutic potential when administered after irradiation.

A number of phytochemicals, including caffeine, genistein, and melatonin, have multiple physiological effects, as well as antioxidant activity, which result in radioprotection in vivo. Many antioxidant nutrients and phytochemicals have antimutagenic properties, and their modulation of long-term radiation effects, such as cancer, needs further examination. In addition, further studies are required to determine the potential value of specific antioxidant nutrients and phytochemicals during radiotherapy for cancer.

[HillbillyBob]

3. Well maybe someone there hates librul hollyweird stars?

Ya know how the rpugs hate hollywood, maybe it was karl roves bff that reset the radiation levels.
God knows they were behind the railroading of Don Seigelman and how many of our service people they have sent to die in Iraq and Afghanistan, then there is the robbery of our treasury.

(only half joking)

[Crunchy Frog]

4. The same hospital that almost killed Dennis Quaid's twins with a Heparin overdose.

After my family's experience this week, I am really beginning to understand just how dangerous hospitals are.

[Lost-in-FL]

5. Sound like hospital error to me.

Quality assurance test are to be run daily in any radiologic equipment.