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Radiological interventions play an increasingly relevant role in cardiology. Due to the inherent risks of ionizing radiation, proper care must be taken with monitoring and optimizing the dose delivered in angiograms to pose as low risk as possible to staff and patients. Dose optimization is particularly pertinent in teaching hospitals, where longer procedure times are at times necessary to accommodate the teaching needs of junior staff, and thus impart a more significant radiation dose. This study aims to analyze the effects of different protocol settings in routine coronary angiograms, from the perspective of a large tertiary center implementing a rapid dose reduction program. Routine coronary angiograms were chosen to compare baseline levels of radiation, and the dose imparted before and after dose optimization techniques was measured. Such methods included lowering dose per pulse, fluoroscopic pulse rates, and cine acquisition frame rates. The results showed up to 63% reduction in radiation dose without adverse impact on clinical or teaching outcomes. A 10 fps/low and 5 pps/low setting was found to achieve maximum dose optimization, with the caveat that settings require incremental changes to accommodate for patient complexities.Copyright © 2018 M. K. Badawy et al.

Radiological interventions play an increasingly relevant role in cardiology. Due to the inherent risks of ionizing radiation, proper care must be taken with monitoring and optimizing the dose delivered in angiograms to pose as low risk as possible to staff and patients. Dose optimization is particularly pertinent in teaching hospitals, where longer procedure times are at times necessary to accommodate the teaching needs of junior staff, and thus impart a more significant radiation dose. This study aims to analyze the effects of different protocol settings in routine coronary angiograms, from the perspective of a large tertiary center implementing a rapid dose reduction program. Routine coronary angiograms were chosen to compare baseline levels of radiation, and the dose imparted before and after dose optimization techniques was measured. Such methods included lowering dose per pulse, fluoroscopic pulse rates, and cine acquisition frame rates. The results showed up to 63% reduction in radiation dose without adverse impact on clinical or teaching outcomes. A 10 fps/low and 5 pps/low setting was found to achieve maximum dose optimization, with the caveat that settings require incremental changes to accommodate for patient complexities.Copyright © 2018 M. K. Badawy et al.

Objectives To identify how on-line information relating to prostate cancer screening (PCS) is best sourced, whether through general, medical, or meta-search engines, and to assess the quality of that information. Methods Websites providing information about PCS were searched across 15 search engines representing three distinct types: general, medical, and meta-search engines. The quality of on-line information was assessed using the DISCERN quality assessment tool. Quality performance characteristics were analyzed by performing Mann-Whitney U tests. Search engine efficiency was measured by each search query as a percentage of the relevant websites included for analysis from the total returned and analyzed by performing Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance. Results Of 6690 websites reviewed, 84 unique websites were identified as providing information relevant to PCS. General and meta-search engines were significantly more efficient at retrieving relevant information on PCS compared with medical search engines. The quality of information was variable, with most of a poor standard. Websites that provided referral links to other resources and a citation of evidence provided a significantly better quality of information. In contrast, websites offering a direct service were more likely to provide a significantly poorer quality of information. Conclusions The current lack of a clear consensus on guidelines and recommendation in published data is also reflected by the variable quality of information found on-line. Specialized medical search engines were no more likely to retrieve relevant, high-quality information than general or meta-search engines. © 2004 Elsevier Inc.

Objectives To identify how on-line information relating to prostate cancer screening (PCS) is best sourced, whether through general, medical, or meta-search engines, and to assess the quality of that information. Methods Websites providing information about PCS were searched across 15 search engines representing three distinct types: general, medical, and meta-search engines. The quality of on-line information was assessed using the DISCERN quality assessment tool. Quality performance characteristics were analyzed by performing Mann-Whitney U tests. Search engine efficiency was measured by each search query as a percentage of the relevant websites included for analysis from the total returned and analyzed by performing Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance. Results Of 6690 websites reviewed, 84 unique websites were identified as providing information relevant to PCS. General and meta-search engines were significantly more efficient at retrieving relevant information on PCS compared with medical search engines. The quality of information was variable, with most of a poor standard. Websites that provided referral links to other resources and a citation of evidence provided a significantly better quality of information. In contrast, websites offering a direct service were more likely to provide a significantly poorer quality of information. Conclusions The current lack of a clear consensus on guidelines and recommendation in published data is also reflected by the variable quality of information found on-line. Specialized medical search engines were no more likely to retrieve relevant, high-quality information than general or meta-search engines. © 2004 Elsevier Inc.