Coronary artery perforation as a complication of PCI is still rare as demonstrated in our series with an incidence of 0.48%. The predominant cause of coronary perforations in the current era of PCI is wire injury.
Despite growing concerns regarding medical radiation exposure, there is still limited awareness of radiation-induced cancer risks among patients and physicians. There is also no consensus regarding who should provide patients with relevant information, as well as in what specific situations and exactly what information should be communicated. Radiologists should prioritize development of consensus statements and novel educational initiatives with regard to radiation-induced cancer risk awareness and communication.
Purpose:To demonstrate a limitation of lifetime radiation-induced cancer risk metrics in the setting of testicular cancer surveillance-in particular, their failure to capture the delayed timing of radiation-induced cancers over the course of a patient's lifetime.
Materials and Methods:Institutional review board approval was obtained for the use of computed tomographic (CT) dosimetry data in this study. Informed consent was waived. This study was HIPAA compliant. A Markov model was developed to project outcomes in patients with testicular cancer who were undergoing CT surveillance in the decade after orchiectomy. To quantify effects of early versus delayed risks, life expectancy losses and lifetime mortality risks due to testicular cancer were compared with life expectancy losses and lifetime mortality risks due to radiation-induced cancers from CT. Projections of life expectancy loss, unlike lifetime risk estimates, account for the timing of risks over the course of a lifetime, which enabled evaluation of the described limitation of lifetime risk estimates. Markov chain Monte Carlo methods were used to estimate the uncertainty of the results.
Results:As an example of evidence yielded, 33-year-old men with stage I seminoma who were undergoing CT surveillance were projected to incur a slightly higher lifetime mortality risk from testicular cancer (598 per 100 000; 95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 302, 894) than from radiation-induced cancers (505 per 100 000; 95% UI: 280, 730). However, life expectancy loss attributable to testicular cancer (83 days; 95% UI: 42, 124) was more than three times greater than life expectancy loss attributable to radiationinduced cancers (24 days; 95% UI: 13, 35). Trends were consistent across modeled scenarios.
Conclusion:Lifetime radiation risk estimates, when used for decision making, may overemphasize radiation-induced cancer risks relative to short-term health risks.q RSNA, 2012 Supplemental material: http://radiology.rsna.org/lookup /suppl
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