Radiology has another layer of
expertise
by Mary
Helen YarboroughPublic Relations
As part of its goal to reduce the amount of radiation to achieve the best possible image, MUSC’s Department of Radiology has added a highly regarded medical physicist to its team of internationally acclaimed radiology experts.
Dr. Walter Huda
discusses the quality of images from two CT scans.Walter Huda, Ph.D., left State University of New York Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, where he was professor and director of radiological physics and radiology, to join MUSC’s radiology department in May. He brought his vision of expanding education to practitioners worldwide through research, Web-sharing systems and collaboration.
Huda, who enjoys teaching almost as much as golf, said he looks forward to bridging any communication gaps between researchers and clinicians. He said he will interact with doctors, students and, particularly, residents to translate lab research and advances to bedside care.
“I feel very comfortable in a room full of physicists and basic scientists,” Huda said. “And I also feel very comfortable interacting with medical doctors. … Many doctors don’t like the technical side that we’re involved in. I am very comfortable in this environment, and I am very interested in education, particularly for the residents.”
Among Huda’s research projects, funded by the Radiological Society of North America, is building a unique Web site that will be used as a resource for resident educators (http://www.upstate.edu/radiology/rsna/). The resource, which should be up and running by the fall, will provide information on how medical imaging equipment works, as well as the corresponding radiation doses that patients receive, and will help educate future generations of radiologists.
“That means the information will help radiologists get better images using less radiation,” Huda said. “We will do that by combining clinical and research work.”
Reducing the levels of radiation in clinical settings is important, because high doses of radiation can be harmful, Huda said.
“Two CT (computerized tomography) scans present twice the risk as one CT scan,” he said. “That’s why it is important to only perform a scan when it is indicated. And it is important to determine the value of the information you will be getting. What is the risk benefit analysis? You have to balance the benefit and risks and use no more radiation than is required.”
Because the number of CT scans is increasing each year—60 million scans were done in the United States last year—experts are concerned about the implications of excess energetic ionizing radiation and scans, which can be hazardous, and in the worst cases even carcinogenic.
“Fifteen years ago, the amount of radiation you used was determined by the film you used. You had no choice,” Huda said. “But today, it’s all digital. You have choices, and you should be able to reduce the radiation with digital systems and get the image you need. Technology is improving all of the time.”
Huda is the principle investigator in the study, Dose and Image Quality in CT Scans, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health. This project currently is being moved to MUSC for Huda’s completion.
Before he was recruited to MUSC, “I was impressed,” Huda said. “This place is going somewhere. And what struck me is how nice and friendly the people are in the department.”
As part of his position, Huda will assist in advising on what kind of equipment to buy, commissioning it for installation, and running a quality control program to make sure it works properly and meets regulatory requirements. He also will advise on the equipments clinical use. “For example, a CT scan on a child would involve certain variables. It’s more than just pressing a button. You want the best image with the lowest radiation,” he said.
A native of Yorkshire, England, Huda received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Oxford University; his doctorate in medical physics was obtained at the Hammersmith Hospital (University of London) where he was involved in a study of trace elemental analysis of biomedical tissues.
Huda is a member of the Society of Radiological Protection, a Fellow in the Canadian College of Physicist in Medicine, is certified by the American Board of Medical Physics and the American Board of Radiology.
On June 28-29, he will be a presenter in the Charleston “Hands On” course on the 64-slice and Dual Source Cardiac CT scans.
Huda loves to golf, which lured him to South Carolina, the Grand Strand in particular, years ago. He bought a condo on Pawleys Island and acquired another piece of necessary equipment: “I have a Myrtle Beach [golf] passport,” Huda said. Meanwhile, he and wife, Joyce, bought a house on James Island, a place that he calls paradise.
Huda is the author of a scientific best seller, “Review of Radiologic Physics,” which has sold 10,000 copies of each of the first two editions. He currently is writing the third edition for publication, which is due out in 2008. This edition will be aimed at radiology.
Friday, June 29, 2007
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