An investigation into the safety of MRI scanners is to be carried out amid health fears over the effects of the scans on staff who work the machinery.

MRI scanners to be examined for cancer link

Extract from the Telegraph:

"The scans, which provide detailed pictures of the inside of the body, use strong magnetic fields that experts fear can interrupt normal body functions.

The Health Protection Agency will set up a working group to investigate the long-term effects on those who operate MRI scanners.

Advisers have called for research into death rates and the number of cancer cases in staff who work with the machinery.

The babies of mothers who operated MRI machines while pregnant should also be studied, they claim. Particular attention should also be paid to whether exposure alters heart rhythms in those with cardiovascular disease or a pacemaker."

The UK government today unveiled a new national stroke strategy aimed at saving almost 7,000 lives a year and preventing much severe disability.

10-year plan to reduce stroke deaths

Extract from The Guardian:

"The government today unveiled a new national stroke strategy aimed at saving almost 7,000 lives a year and preventing many more people from becoming permanently disabled.

Stroke - a blood clot or bleeding in the brain - is the cause of 50,000 deaths a year, and many more are left disabled by it.

It is a bigger killer of women than breast cancer, but has been the poor relation of some other high-profile diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, when it comes to prevention and treatment.

The 10-year strategy aims to redress the imbalance by raising public awareness of the early signs of stroke as well as speeding up access to brain scans and drug treatment. The measures could prevent up to 6,800 deaths each year.

The health minister, Alan Johnson, will today set out a 10-year plan designed to ensure that urgent action is taken to identify those at risk of a major stroke and ensure preventive action and much faster treatment.

The strategy calls for fast access to MRI scans for those suffering mini strokes - known as transient ischaemic attacks - which provide a strong indication that someone will, at some point, have a full stroke.

Anyone at high risk of a full stroke because of their age, blood pressure or other factors who suffers a minor stroke must be given an MRI scan within 24 hours. Low-risk individuals must have a scan within seven days.

This will require a substantial improvement on existing services. Currently, less than 35% of hospitals provide a scan within seven days, whatever the patient's level of risk.

However, speeding up the response in this way could prevent 80% of full strokes."

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NHS patients are having to wait almost six months for life-saving diagnostic tests such as MRI scans

Patients wait six months for life-saving scans - Telegraph

Extract:

"NHS patients are having to wait almost six months for life-saving diagnostic tests such as MRI scans, new research for The Daily Telegraph shows today.

While waiting lists are falling overall, a study of NHS trusts found that the chance of an early diagnosis depends on where a patient lives.

Patients in Wales had to wait 100 working days for an MRI scan in 2005/6, while those in the North-East had to wait only 47 days."


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Patients' lives could be being put at risk because one in 10 scan results are not reported to doctors.

Results of 1 in 10 scans not reported

Extract:

"Patients' lives could be being put at risk because one in 10 scan results are not reported to doctors, a report by the healthcare watchdog warns today.

The Healthcare Commission found that the results of almost 10% of diagnostic scans - including x-rays, ultrasounds and MRI or CT scans - are never formally reported to the clinicians who order them.

In some cases there will be an agreement that an x-ray is fine if no written result is offered; in others, doctors may have been told the results informally. Clinicians may also look at scans and reach their own conclusions. But such an approach risks leaving injuries or serious conditions undetected - particularly when scans have been ordered by GPs, who will not normally be able to view the images, or by relatively- inexperienced A&E doctors."

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