[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 13181-13182]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNIZING RADIOLOGISTS AND THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF RADIOLOGY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PETE SESSIONS

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 1, 2012

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the International Day 
of Radiology, and draw attention to the important contribution that 
radiology, in particular diagnostic imaging, serves in the health care 
delivery system. International Day of Radiology is observed annually on 
November 8th, an important date in the history of radiology. On that 
day in 1895, Professor Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovered x-rays. 
Radiology will be celebrated by many groups including the American 
College of Radiology, the Radiological Society of North America, and 
the European Society of Radiology.
  Radiologists (physicians with special training in the use of imaging 
including x-rays), Radiation Oncologists (physicians trained to treat 
cancers with radiation alone or in combination with surgery and/or 
chemotherapy), and the medical imaging community have made significant 
contributions to modern medicine, providing powerful tools for clinical 
diagnosis, decision making, and treatment of disease. Over the last 30 
years, medical imaging tools have been among the most sophisticated and 
cutting-edge technologies developed for patient care. During that span 
we have seen consistent decreases in cancer mortality rates with 
corresponding increases in American life expectancy.
  The U.S. National Academy of Engineering recognized the tremendous 
contribution of medical imaging exams when it ranked imaging among the 
20 greatest engineering achievements of the twentieth century. 
Practicing physicians surveyed in a 2001 Health Affairs study ranked 
Computed Tomography

[[Page 13182]]

(CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) number one among the top 30 
recent medical innovations. Perhaps most telling, the New England 
Journal of Medicine named medical imaging one of the top 10 medical 
advances of the last 1,000 years.
  A 2009 National Bureau of Economic Research study found that 
individuals with greater access to imaging scans live longer. 
Diagnostic imaging services have enabled patients to avoid several 
types of expensive and invasive procedures. Imaging scans cost less 
than surgeries and reduce the number of unnecessary hospital admissions 
and length of hospital stays. As such, medical imaging serves an 
important role in containing the cost of health care in the United 
States.
  With its impact on patients' health, I'm pleased to recognize the 
importance of diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology, and call 
attention to November 8th as the International Day of Radiology.

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