A report in the December 2002 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Society, suggests the use of nuclear imaging technology on emergency patients experiencing certain types of heart attack symptoms could prevent thousands of unnecessary hospital admissions.
Dr Stuart Carr, of ANSTO Radiopharmaceuticals and Industrials, said nuclear medicine, Technetium-99m (Tc-99m), produced by ANSTO, plays an increasingly important role in allowing doctors to make quick and accurate decisions to be made on people suffering severe cardiac or respiratory problems.
Almost 2500 adults were involved in the US study, carried out in various medical centres and hospitals between1997-99. Some of the patients received the standard procedure for heart attack symptoms, a cardiograph, and others the nuclear imaging technique.
The majority of patients who undergo cardiography are admitted to hospital or to an observation unit because the initial clinical examination can not eliminate the possibility of acute infarction or unstable angina.
Of the patients in this study, 52 per cent who did not have the nuclear report further noted that unnecessary hospital admissions were reduced by 20 per cent among patients who had the test and could bring about significant change in hospitals worldwide.
Dr Carr said heart disease is the major cause of death in Australia today, with more than 27,000 deaths recorded each year.
“About seven per cent of all hospitalisations in 1998-99 had cardiovascular disease as the principal diagnosis,” he said.
“ANSTO produces a large range of medically significant isotopes, including Tc-99m. A state-of-the-art Replacement Research Reactor is currently under construction, which will further enhance ANSTO’s capacity for producing radiopharmaceuticals.
“Last fiscal year, total revenue from sales of ANSTO manufactured radiopharmaceuticals exceeded $19.7m,” Dr Carr said.
“Export sales of these products increased 15 per cent to almost $3m. Markets have been established in 10 overseas countries including the US, New Zealand, China and Korea. With a number of other countries now showing interest, further expansion and increased sales are expected this year.”