Preliminary Report Backs Disputed Tests at VA Hospital

While withholding final judgment, a Veterans Affairs physicist said in a new report Friday that controversial radiation tests conducted on research patients at a Loma Linda hospital “appear to be in line” with standard medical practices.

But the preliminary report, sought by the San Bernardino County veterans hospital to quell criticism of the research, acknowledged that consent forms signed by participants made no mention of any radiological dangers under the discussion of potential risks.

The review was a brief one--consisting of five paragraphs and completed in less than two days by VA health physicist Edwin M. Leidholt Jr.

It leaves unanswered many key concerns that Loma Linda’s radiation safety officer, Moussa Raiszadeh, raised when he forced the suspension of several research studies at the hospital late last year.

Among the concerns: whether multiple rounds of radiation placed patients at an unacceptable risk; whether the testing was plagued with miscalculations, raising dosages far beyond what was intended, and whether the hospital’s in-house review process objectively investigated such issues.

Leidholt, who is based in the VA’s San Francisco office, simply found that the radiation levels used in the four contested studies, focusing on kidney and eye ailments, appeared consistent with dosages “routinely” used in such tests.

Leidholt concluded his report, however, by saying: “We are still reviewing this aspect of the . . . studies and have not reached a final judgment.”

Contacted Friday by The Times, the physicist would not elaborate on his review. Raiszadeh, who has accused the hospital of covering up the alleged problems, could not be reached.

Officials at Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center celebrated the findings as a clear vindication.

“Basically, we feel [the report] reconfirmed our previous internal feelings--that it’s legitimate research and that there was no risk to participants,” said hospital spokeswoman Annie Tuttle.

Tuttle said Leidholt plans to seek the opinions of other specialists in completing his study.

In reaching his preliminary conclusions, Leidholt reviewed documents on the research compiled by the hospital and was given an article published Thursday in The Times that disclosed the simmering dispute, Tuttle said.

He also talked to some VA doctors involved in the controversy, Tuttle said, although it is unknown whether the radiation safety officer or other critics--such as a radiologist who quit one study because of safety concerns--were among those interviewed.

Hospital officials plan to give Leidholt’s review to about 40 research participants, as well as to staff members who have raised questions.

“We are hoping when we provide this other information to them,” Tuttle said, “it will help them put this issue to rest.”