[JS][CS3] Place the same image multiple times?

I have a javascript that processes a set of multiple-choice test items in XML.  The XML structure identifies parts of the item such as intro, question, answer choice A, answer choice B, etc.

I have a small AI file for each answer choice that has a fill-in-the-bubble circle with the letter A, B, C, or D inside.  The part of the script that processes each answer choice has a line that does myElement.insertionPoints.item(0).place(answerBubbleFile), in other words it places the answer bubble graphic at the beginning of the answer choice.

The problem I am having is that this ends up creating a huge INDD file and likewise huge PDFs.  The same 4 graphics are evidently being stored separately for each item, upwards of 50 items per test.

Is there a more efficient way to do this where I could have only one copy of each graphic and have each of the places where it appears simply be a reference to that one file?