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Is Medical Imaging Worth the Cancer Risk?
Reported August 28, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- From CT scans to nuclear stress tests, America
is receiving skyrocketing rates of radiation through medical imaging.
Experts say research is necessary to determine whether the benefits outweigh
the known cancer risks of radiation.
In a study including about 1 million adults between 18 and 64, nearly 70
percent experienced medical imaging between July 2005 and December 2007,
doubling the average expected dose of radiation exposed naturally. The
number of CT scans given has quadrupled since 1992, a procedure responsible
for as many as 2 percent of all cancers. Researchers are calling for
evidence that the benefits of cardiovascular imaging tests used for
diagnostic purposes outweigh the potential risks of radiation.
Although the radiation transmitted from a single test is minimal, it's
cumulative exposure from tests that experts worry about. Women and older
individuals are at greatest risk for radiation exposure. Clinicians ought to
“think and talk explicitly about the elements of danger in exposing our
patients to radiation," Michael S. Lauer, M.D., director of the Divisions of
Prevention and Population Sciences at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute, was quoted as saying. Dr. Lauer suggests doctors analyze patients
individually, forewarning them of the potential risks of cumulative
radiation.
SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine, August 27, 2009 |
