Despite some geographic variability, there are no major differences in the way nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) studies are performed on men and women around the world, including the amount of radiation delivered, according to a new study published in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.
The global study of six regions found that while women in some countries accounted for fewer than 35% of patients undergoing MPI, there were no significant differences in treatment between the genders when societal and economic factors were considered.
In addition, the mean effective dose for nuclear cardiology procedures was only slightly lower in women than men, with a difference of 0.3 mSv when adjusting for age and weight differences between the genders (JACC Cardiovasc Imaging, April 2016, Vol. 9:4, pp. 376-384).
“Surprisingly to my colleagues and me, once a nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging study was performed, there were no big differences between men and women,” said senior author Dr. Andrew Einstein, PhD, an associate professor of medicine in radiology at Columbia University Medical Center. “We expected to find more in the way of gender differences in terms of utilization of best practices and radiation dose.”
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