The American Heart Association (AHA) suggests that doctors should explain radiation risks and benefits of heart scans to patients before conducting the procedure.

The medical industry has witnessed a lot of improvements in the last few decades and heart scans have become a vital tool to detect and treat heart diseases in patients. However, heart scans also increased the radiation exposure on patients. The AHA has issued a statement, which suggests that patients should be aware of the radiation exposure before getting a heart scan.

Reza Fazel, a cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and chair of the writing committee for the AHA statement revealed that heart scans account for about 40 percent of the radiation exposure from all medical imaging.

Fazel also pointed out in the statement that the role of radiation is very important when the heart scan procedure is used on younger patients, who have a higher lifetime risk.

The AHA statement suggests that doctors who perform the scans, or doctors who just send patients for heart scans, should be aware of the ionizing radiation usage in scans and the typical radiation exposure of a cardiac scan. Doctors should then advise patients about the potential benefits, as well as the radiation risks involved with the scans. The statement reveals that this will ensure that patients agree and give an informed consent before going for a heart scan.

"For clinicians who will be performing cardiac imaging, these competencies should include detailed knowledge of how the imaging equipment they use functions; dose-optimization techniques for the types of studies they perform and interpret; and dose-minimization techniques for operators and staff," per the AHA statement.

Fazel also highlighted the fact that the risks involved with heart scans are very low when compared to the benefits that arise after the scan.

The doctors should also decide upon the best scanning method to use. The physicians should also account for the accuracy of a scanning method as well as the availability of the method and the cost involved for the convenience of the patients.

Computed tomography, or CT scan, is the most typical medical scanning process for blood vessel and heart imaging. The process involves exposure to radiation. Echocardiography, or ECG, which is the ultrasound imaging process of the heart, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) does not expose patients to ionizing radiation.

The statement has been published in AHA's journal Circulation.