Patients exposed to excessive radiation

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- A faulty CT brain scanner exposed 260 patients to eight times the necessary radiation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, officials said.

The patients were exposed to excessive radiation between February 2008, when the hospital reconfigured the scanner, and August of this year, when a patient who had undergone a scan reported hair loss, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The hospital notified 206 patients of the problem in September and then discovered additional patients who had undergone scans on the device, Simi Singer, a hospital spokeswoman told the Times.

In a letter to patients Monday, the hospital apologized and said it would pay for any medical care associated with the scans.

An estimated 20 percent of the patients received exposure to the lenses of their eyes, putting them at higher risk for cataracts, Singer said.