Ct Scans

Whole-body CT scans, long controversial because of doubts about their effectiveness in finding hidden disease, can significantly increase the recipient's risk of developing cancer, according to a study released Monday. The radiation from a single whole-body scan is equal to that from 100 mammograms and is similar to that received by survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan -- about 1 1/2 miles from the explosions -- according to radiation biologist David J.

In case you missed it, a recommendation came out last month that physicians cut back on using 45 common tests and treatments. In addition, patients were advised to question doctors who recommend such things as antibiotics for mild sinusitis, CT scans for an uncomplicated headache or a repeat colonoscopy within 10 years of a normal exam. The general idea wasn't all that new - my colleagues and I have been questioning many of the same tests and treatments for years. What was different this time was the source of the recommendations.

Widespread overuse of CT scans and variations in radiation doses caused by different machines -- operated by technicians following an array of procedures -- are subjecting patients to high radiation doses that will ultimately lead to tens of thousands of new cancer cases and deaths, researchers reported today. Several recent studies have suggested that patients have been unnecessarily exposed to radiation from CTs or have received excessive amounts, but two new studies published Tuesday in the Archives of Internal Medicine are the first to quantify the extent of exposure and the related risks.

Screening longtime tobacco users for lung cancer would be less costly than the widely accepted practice of screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers and would reduce the death toll of lung cancer by an estimated 15,000 lives a year, according to a study released Monday that is likely to ignite debate on expanding healthcare coverage for smokers. Using the financial standards generally employed by health insurance companies, a group of actuarial economists calculated that annual low-dose CT scans of middle-aged Americans who have smoked the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes every day for 30 years would cost each insured American an extra 76 cents a month.

CT scans have become almost routine in emergency rooms for both adults and children, and if you’ve wondered whether kids in particular are getting too much radiation, the answer might be yes. Children are getting five times as many computerized tomography scans in the emergency room than they did in recent years, new research shows. The number of CT scans performed on children in pediatric emergency rooms increased from 330,000 in 1995 to 1.65 million in 2008, according to a study published online in Radiology.

Researchers in the Netherlands have reported that low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans used for lung cancer screening may also help physicians detect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, known as COPD, in smokers. Their study was released Tuesday by the journal JAMA. COPD is one of the major causes of death among heavy smokers, and usually presents as chronic bronchitis or emphysema.  Quitting smoking can keep the disease from progressing, but often people don't know they have COPD in the first place.  If looking at CT scans helps physicians catch the disease early, it might prevent illness and death.

Radiation-induced cancer is a big fear as the use of CT scans for all kinds of medical diagnoses increases. Clearly, unnecessary radiation should be avoided. But a new study suggests that the cancer risk may have been overestimated. Researchers from Stanford analyzed 10 million records from Medicare claims from 1998 to 2005 to determine the radiation exposure from CT scans and the cancer risk among this population. They found that radiation exposure doubled from 1998 to 2001 compared with 2002 to 2005 as CT use became more common.

Children who are brought to a hospital's emergency department after a blow to the head are often rushed into a CT scanner so physicians can rule out dangerous bleeding in the brain. But when emergency doctors wait to see if a child's dizziness, nausea, headache or disorientation subside, they can reduce the use of potentially risky CT scans without raising the risk they will miss a problem requiring immediate surgery, says a new study . The research, published in the journal Pediatrics , comes against the backdrop of two trends: the rising rate of concussion-related ER visits by younger kids , and the exploding use of CT, or computed tomography , scans, despite growing concerns about the high dose of radiation and heightened cancer risk they pose.

If people weren't afraid of CT scans before now, it might just be a matter of time until they are. Or perhaps until lawmakers take matters into their own hands. L.A. Times staff writer Alan Zarembo wrote Tuesday of local hospitals that said they were simply following the manufacturer's recommendations: " Two More Hospitals Report CT Scan Radiation Overdoses ." Judith Graham wrote recently in the Chicago Tribune about attempts to protect children from excess radiation: " Clamping Down on CT Scans for Kids ."

Widespread screening with CT scans can detect lung cancer. Regular mammograms of all women 40 and older can find breast cancer. Avastin, at $8,000 a month, has helped some patients with advanced breast cancer.  And the prostate cancer drug Provenge, at $93,000 per patient, can extend survival by about four months. Such were the headlines this week. But this made headlines too: Healthcare spending in the U.S. outpaces all other industrialized countries, amounting to 17.5% of our economic output.

Researchers in the Netherlands have reported that low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans used for lung cancer screening may also help physicians detect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, known as COPD, in smokers. Their study was released Tuesday by the journal JAMA. COPD is one of the major causes of death among heavy smokers, and usually presents as chronic bronchitis or emphysema.  Quitting smoking can keep the disease from progressing, but often people don't know they have COPD in the first place.  If looking at CT scans helps physicians catch the disease early, it might prevent illness and death.

Widespread screening with CT scans can detect lung cancer. Regular mammograms of all women 40 and older can find breast cancer. Avastin, at $8,000 a month, has helped some patients with advanced breast cancer.  And the prostate cancer drug Provenge, at $93,000 per patient, can extend survival by about four months. Such were the headlines this week. But this made headlines too: Healthcare spending in the U.S. outpaces all other industrialized countries, amounting to 17.5% of our economic output.

Screening heavy smokers for lung cancer does reduce deaths, without leading to too many dangerous follow-up tests, and researchers now have the numbers to prove it. That question would appear to be settled. But the cash to implement such a program … now that’s another issue entirely. The analysis validating lung-cancer screening via spiral CT scans comes from a trial of more than 53,000 patients. Researchers found that giving smokers and ex-smokers chest CT scans could reduce lung cancer deaths by 20%. In another way of interpreting the data, 320 smokers and ex-smokers needed to be screened to prevent one death.  The full story is in this Los Angeles Times article . For many diseases, screening is often deemed “not worth it” in part because of the harm done to people who test positive but don’t have the disease (false positives)

Screening smokers and ex-smokers with spiral CT scans can reduce lung cancer deaths by 20% without triggering too many dangerous or unnecessary tests that sometimes result from cancer screening programs, researchers reported Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. After conducting a more thorough analysis of data from a trial involving more than 53,000 patients, the researchers found that even though the scans produced many false-positive results — affecting 39% of those who were screened three times — there were few serious complications resulting from them.

Children who are brought to a hospital's emergency department after a blow to the head are often rushed into a CT scanner so physicians can rule out dangerous bleeding in the brain. But when emergency doctors wait to see if a child's dizziness, nausea, headache or disorientation subside, they can reduce the use of potentially risky CT scans without raising the risk they will miss a problem requiring immediate surgery, says a new study . The research, published in the journal Pediatrics , comes against the backdrop of two trends: the rising rate of concussion-related ER visits by younger kids , and the exploding use of CT, or computed tomography , scans, despite growing concerns about the high dose of radiation and heightened cancer risk they pose.

CT scans have become almost routine in emergency rooms for both adults and children, and if you’ve wondered whether kids in particular are getting too much radiation, the answer might be yes. Children are getting five times as many computerized tomography scans in the emergency room than they did in recent years, new research shows. The number of CT scans performed on children in pediatric emergency rooms increased from 330,000 in 1995 to 1.65 million in 2008, according to a study published online in Radiology.

It seems like the pinnacle of medical science: For just a few hundred dollars, you can walk into just about any hospital in Southern California and ask a doctor to check your arteries for buildup of heart-attack-inducing calcium plaque. Most of the time, what goes on inside our bodies is a mystery, but there's something satisfying in the thought that a sophisticated piece of equipment can measure just how clogged our arteries really are (and how much more junk food we can afford, or not afford, to eat)

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that overdoses of radiation to more than 400 patients undergoing CT scans of their heads were due to operator error and called on manufacturers to make changes to prevent such mistakes in the future. In a statement on its website and in a letter to manufacturers, the agency recommended that the companies compile all dosing information in an easily accessible form for operators and that they install a pop-up device to warn operators before they administer a dangerous overdose.

Radiation-induced cancer is a big fear as the use of CT scans for all kinds of medical diagnoses increases. Clearly, unnecessary radiation should be avoided. But a new study suggests that the cancer risk may have been overestimated. Researchers from Stanford analyzed 10 million records from Medicare claims from 1998 to 2005 to determine the radiation exposure from CT scans and the cancer risk among this population. They found that radiation exposure doubled from 1998 to 2001 compared with 2002 to 2005 as CT use became more common.

Use of CT scans in hospital emergency rooms has risen 16% a year since 1995, raising questions about unnecessary radiation exposure and how healthcare costs can be contained against such fervent use of technology. In a study released Monday in the journal Radiology, researchers found use of CT ? computed tomography ? procedures increased from 2.7 million nationwide in 1995 to 16.2 million in 2007. The study joins several recent reports showing that the use of sophisticated imaging technology, and the cost associated with it, has grown rapidly.