In Recognition of International Day of Radiology

Floor Speech

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the International Day of Radiology, and draw attention to the vital role that diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy serve in the American health care system. The International Day of Radiology is observed annually on November 8--an important date in medical and world history. On that day in 1895, Professor Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovered X-rays, which ultimately led to modern medical imaging and radiation therapy. This year, the 118th anniversary of Roentgen's discovery, will focus on lung imaging, and be commemorated by many groups, including the American College of Radiology (ACR), the Radiological Society of North America and the European Society of Radiology.

Radiologists (physicians with special training in imaging), radiation oncologists (physicians trained to treat cancer with radiation) and the imaging community continue to move medicine forward. Most recently, lung computed tomography (CT) scans were shown by clinical trials to significantly reduce lung cancer deaths among smokers. In response to the positive results generated from these trials, the ACR will issue CT lung cancer screening guidelines and standards. Nationwide, CT screening programs for lung cancer, including teams of health care providers from various medical specialties, will follow. These multidisciplinary screening programs will save tens of thousands of lives each year from the nation's leading cancer killer.

Medical imaging has been shown to help lower many cancer and hospital mortality rates. A 2009 National Bureau of Economic Research (BEA) report found that individuals with greater access to imaging live longer than those with lesser access. Imaging exams also reduce the number of invasive surgeries, unnecessary hospital admissions and lengths of hospital stays, which can lower health care costs.

The U.S. National Academy of Engineering recognized the tremendous contribution of medical imaging when it ranked imaging among the 20 greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century. Most telling, the New England Journal of Medicine named medical imaging one of the top 10 medical advances of the last 1,000 years.

With its incredible impact on patients' health, and significant benefit to the American health care system, I am pleased to recognize the importance of diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology, and call attention to November 8 as the International Day of Radiology.

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