15,000 Will Die From CT Scans Done In 1 Year

Reuters ^ | December 14th 2009

[republicangel]

I have CT scans once every two years. If I survive the original disease, I’ll let you guys know about the possible cancer. LOL

[schwingdoc]

Exactly.

No way they can gather this data cleanly and make such bold accusations. There is totally a cohort design problem with this.

And it definitely fits with BHO:

Take your tonsils out? Maybe its just allergies?
Ever thought of that doctor?

[MrEdd]

Orange Tabby’s cause Leukemia.

35,000 Canadian Women killed by cats each year!!!

Newspapers never lie, and data doesnt need to be released. Just clap your hands and believe.

[WVRockDJ]

Yup, first thought I had, too. God help us.

[potlatch]

Another scare tactic. Soon they will try to scare us of all procedures so we won't even go to a doctor, lol.

[Ouderkirk]

The dose from them is pretty high.

A general X-Ray is typically a 40 to 60 micro-grey dose.

The exam exposure lasts for 30 to 500 milliseconds.

A CT lasts for 1 minute to 3 minutes or more. So it is a large total dose. But the need for such an exam typically outweighs the radiation risk. This applies to all radiography.

With PET scans they use this flouro-glucose that is highly radioactive. But, cancer absorbs the glucose at a different rate than normal tissue, and thus such a scan, while posing certain risks, is the least of your health concerns.

MRI is pumped with microwave RF.

Nuclear Medicine is for function studies like cardiology. So, is the dose from a little Technetium worth having a heart attack by not knowing.

In life nothing is free. And modern medicine is based on the advances in the ability to do ever more complicated exams before cutting the patient with a knife yeilding much better outcomes for the patient

So don’t worry. Nothing is going to happen to you as a result of your CT scan

[marktwain]

I read the article and the article footnoted that said they calculated the radiation risk. They did not indicate the method of calculating the risk, they just said they calculated it. I’d like to know the assumptions they made and the statistics of risks they used. That should be in the article, and it was not.

[Ouderkirk]

THe article came from MSNBC

Looks like a farewell kick from MSNBC to GE Medical Systems.

[Canedawg]

More news in order to deny services under 0bama care.
* * *

Bingo, and the MRI you underwent does seem to have become the diagnostic test of choice.

[devolve]

.

“Savings” will pay for Abominablecare!

[SunkenCiv]

Obviously, we need to rely on dowsing rods, oh, and euthanasia. :’)

[potlatch]

[“Savings” will pay for Abominablecare!]

Yep, can’t cost them anything when you’re dead!

[pepperdog]

Precisely...following closely the disinformation about mammograms and the out and out lie (according to my husband) about prostrate cancer. Is the general public actually so stupid as to not notice this?

[Born Conservative]

Agree fully; my very first thought exactly when I heard it today on the radio.

It’s about risk vs benefit. Sure there is a radiation exposure, but if you don’t get a CT, your condition is not diagnosed, and you die, it doesn’t matter how much radiation you were spared.

I suspect many more reports like this to be coming out in the future...

[pgkdan]

I don't think so. I have Kidney Cancer (RCC) and have been getting 12 ct's a year (chest, abdomen and pelvis 4 x's a year) and I've been warned several times by my oncologist that there's a huge dose of radiation with every scan and some people wind up with cancer from ct's while looking for other cancers.

There have been several improvements in the care and treatment of RCC that lessen the need for so many sets of scans, imho, so my onc and I decided to cut back to 1 scan every 6 months for now...but geez I've had a BUNCH of scans in the last 4 years. Probably 25 or more.

[pgkdan]

No...one won’t do anything. Cancer patients get many scans...they’re the ones at risk.

[libbylu]

More crap I don’t believe for a second.

[devolve]

.

Terminalcare

[potlatch]

Minimalcare and scare.

[Former Proud Canadian]

In general, a CT is not ordered unless there is some issue where an axial slice type of exam is needed. Blocked intestines, blood in the cranium, etc. So a little radiation exposure is the least of your health concerns at the moment.

Or for insurance purposes, something to point to in court. Defensive medicine, in other words.