Research by UNE medical student Rob Zondervan is covered by dozens of media outlets

U.S. News & World Report, MSN Health, Health Day, MedPageToday.com, AuntMinnie.com and dozens of other online media outlets ran stories on research presented at the American Roentgen Ray Society annual meeting in Vancouver May 1, 2012, by first-year UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine student Rob Zondervan and colleagues. 

The new study of young people who underwent CT scans suggests that their risk of dying from a condition related to their radiation exposure is far less than dying from the original disease they faced. Co-investigators for the study are Susanna Lee M.D., Ph.D., and Peter Hahn M.D. Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital.

Zondervan told AuntMinnie.com (a news outlet for radiologists) that he hopes the study will affect thinking about CT in two ways.

"We now have a list of common CT indications where people interested in radiation reduction can focus their efforts to have maximal impact, and also we now provide mortality rates for these patients showing that, yes, radiation reduction is very important, but also that these patients are at higher risk than the average person, even someone receiving just one scan," he said.

"So it's OK to use CT scanning: These patients are at risk, and the risk of dying from the underlying morbidity is much higher than the risk of dying from radiation-induced cancer," Zondervan said.

"Lowering CT x-ray dose would proportionately decrease the predicted number of radiation- induced cancers, but dose reduction needs to occur in ways that do not result in greater radiologist uncertainty."

Before entering UNE's medical school, Zondervan, was an imaging analysis specialist at the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center: Tumor Imaging Metrics Core in Boston.

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The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.