[Perdogg]

If you get one, is it really that bad? I had one in 2008.

[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

[pgkdan]

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

[shibumi]

" If you get one, is it really that bad? I had one in 2008"

I had a serious liver ailmemt in 2000. The Doc (an old high school friend of mine) ordered many tests, including three CT exams, over the course of about four months.

I have had a cancer screening every year since. Not even a blip. The Doc said that he was just making sure, but he really didn't think that my exposure would be a great risk.

I wouldn't worry all that much about it unless you have a strong family history of specific cancers.