Radiation from CT scans linked to cancers, deaths

[garybeck]

Radiation from CT scans linked to cancers, deaths

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
CT scans deliver far more radiation than has been believed and may contribute to 29,000 new cancers each year, along with 14,500 deaths, suggest two studies in today's Archives of Internal Medicine. One study, led by the National Cancer Institute's Amy Berrington de Gonzalez, used existing exposure data to estimate how many cancers might be caused by CT scans.

Another study in the journal suggests the problem may even be worse. In that study, researchers found that people may be exposed to up to four times as much radiation as estimated by earlier studies. While previous studies relied on dummies equipped with sensors, authors of the new paper studied 1,119 patients at four San Francisco-area hospitals, says author Rebecca-Smith Bindman of the University of California-San Francisco. Based on those higher measurements, a patient could get as much radiation from one CT scan as 74 mammograms or 442 chest X-rays, she says.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-12-15-radiation15_st_N.htm

[Warpy]

1. They were absolutely miraculous when they were first developed

because they gave surgeons such a great picture of complicated areas of the body like knees.

MRI scans work quite differently and don't deliver doses of radiation. Quite possibly the CT scanners will gradually be phased out completely.

This study was done because of a small bump in the incidence of early cancers among the yuppie population who got full body CT scans 10-15 years ago as a status thing.

I'm not a bit surprised by this study. No one who is familiar with the way CT scanners work should be.

[garybeck]

2. i had no idea what the difference between CT and MRI was

or that there was a difference in risk.

thanks

[Edweird]

3. I always found it humorous in a macabre way when they insist that "it's harmless",

right before they walk waayy over there behind the wall with the thick glass.

[WCGreen]

4. Yea, and I have had three so far this year...

[Warpy]

5. The risk is still an acceptable one if it's medically necessary

It's unacceptable when older xrays would do the trick or when it's a yuppie who wants to brag about how healthy his yearly full body CT scan says he is.

The latter group do exist. It was quite a fad for a while.

On edit: medical personnel are behind lead walls or clad in lead aprons because radiation dosage is cumulative. Between patients getting xrays in their rooms and other patients with radioactive implants, the lifetime dose for caregivers can be lethal.