"Cancer Risk From CT Scan Radiation"
The greatest radiation exposure risk comes not from Fukishima fallout
or the polonium naturally found in seafood, but from doctors.
This was the study that really shook things up.
Estimated Risks of Radiation- Induced Fatal Cancer from Pediatric Cat Scans,
which concluded that the best available risk estimates suggest that pediatric CT scans
will result in significantly increased lifetime cancer risk.
How increased?
Well "In the United States, of the approximately 600,000 abdominal
and head CT scans annually performed in children under the age 15"...
500 of these individuals might ultimately (not just get cancer but)
"die from cancer attributable to that cat scan radiation."
In response to this revelation, the editor-in-chief of the leading radiology journal admitted
that radiologists may have not been watching out for children.
These estimates were based on data from Japanese atomic bomb survivors,
in terms of how many cancer deaths one can expect from what kind of radiation dose,
but there's never been a study actually documenting the excess cancers...until now.
Turns out the X-rays released by cat scanners might be twice as carcinogenic
as the higher energy gamma rays released from the atomic bombs.
A few CT scans may nearly triple the risk of brain tumors and leukemia in children.
Other studies are being performed around the world to quantify the risk
and should be out in the next few years.
Until then what can we do?
Well, first of all we should only get x-rays when absolutely necessary:
Good evidence suggests that between a fifth and a half of cat scans aren't necessary at all—
they could be replaced with another type of imaging or just not done. Period.
That's a lot of added cancer risk for no added benefit.
Now this kind of cat scan... okay.
But this kind, carries risk.
The risk of developing cancer after a single CT scan
may be as high as 1 in 100 for a baby girl.
It can take years for cancer to develop, so that's why the risk
is lower in the elderly since they have fewer years to live.
The diagnostic medical radiation dealt out in one year
is estimated to cause 2,800 breast cancers
among women in the United States, and 25,000 or so other cancers.
That's doctors causing cancer.
One chest CT scan is like getting 400 chest X-rays,
and a stress test heart scan, can be like getting over a thousand x-rays.
Doctors need to communicate the risks of these procedures.
For example, the risk of a chest CT is like the risk of having a car crash
during 2500 miles of highway driving
or of smoking 700 cigarettes.
You pick up a pack of cigarettes and there's a warning label,
but then you go in for thallium heart scan, and no one minds
telling you that the risk corresponds to smoking 1400 cigarettes.
1 in every 270 middle-aged women that get an angiogram
may get cancer because of that one test.
The best way to avoid the risks of radiation scans
is the same way to best avoid the risks of medication,
living and eating healthy enough to help avoid
the need for them in the first place.