MITA Supports FDA Efforts to Reduce Radiation

March 31, 2010 - The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA), an association representing the manufacturers, innovators and developers of medical imaging and radiation therapy systems, said it supports the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) ongoing interest to reduce exposure to unnecessary medical radiation and minimize medical errors.

MITA will be working with the FDA and its stakeholders to ensure that we continue to develop innovative technologies that reduce radiation dose and safeguard against human error.

MITA has also introduced new initiatives to assist in reducing radiation exposure with a new radiation dose check feature that alerts CT machine operators when radiation dose levels as determined by hospitals and imaging centers will be exceeded. The radiation dose upper-limit alert (or warning) will notify operators when an error may have occurred in setting parameters. This feature can be configured to prevent a CT scan from occurring.

In addition to the Dose Check Initiative, MITA also recently endorsed the following key principles to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure and medical errors:

-- Expanding and integrating appropriateness criteria into physician decision-making.

-- Creating a national dose registry to permit longitudinal tracking of dose levels.

-- Exploring the expansion of mandatory accreditation for advanced imaging facilities.

-- Establishing minimum standards for hospital and imaging facility personnel who perform medical imaging exams and therapy treatments using radiation.

-- Developing minimum standards for training and education for hospital and imaging facility personnel and checklists to reduce medical errors.

-- Expanding and standardizing the reporting of medical errors associated with medical radiation across stakeholders in a manner that is transparent for patients, families and physicians.

-- Working with stakeholders to develop radiation dose reference values to provide a data point to compare the dose level of a specific procedure.

For more information: www.medicalimaging.org