A fellow McKesson employee forwarded on to me an article about how people are failing to grasp the severity of medical images today (can we blame Oprah for this one?). Yes, having a CT scan is painless, quick, and effective – but is it necessary? A CT scan is a massive amount of radiation being flooded through your body. It shouldn’t be something taken lightly and if you’re recommended to take one by your doctor you should really take the time to make sure it is necessary.
But what about your kids?
As usual, the kids get the stinky end of the stick. The article mentions that some modalities have a pediatric setting, but techs may not know about it or may not use it. Kids are particularly susceptible to radiation damage too, as their cells are dividing and growing much more than an adults.
How serious is all this? The article gives a few good numbers:
Exactly how much radiation is too much? Because CT scans came into vogue in the 1980s and radiation-induced cancer takes roughly 20 years to develop, long-term studies of CT scans and cancer are still under way. But scientists are already anticipating future health implications. Indeed, researchers found a population of 25,000 Japanese post-atomic-bomb survivors who were exposed to roughly the same amount of radiation as two CT scans. Based in part on those studies, the Food and Drug Administration estimates that an adult’s lifetime risk of developing radiation-induced cancer from a CT scan is roughly 1 in 2,000. Worse, the risk for children is even higher.
Compared with adults, children are more sensitive to radiation because they have longer life expectancies and because their cells divide more rapidly, making their DNA more vulnerable to damage. A child’s risk of developing a fatal cancer from one CT scan is as high as 1 in 500.
1 in 500 risk of developing a fatal cancer from one CT scan? Those are some numbers that I think should make you think twice about needlessly obtaining radiation-based medical exams, particularly for your kids.
So who’s up for one of those fancy-shmancy radiation-free MRIs? What? No longitudinal studies for adverse effects at all? Well, I’m sure the doctors wouldn’t do anything dangerous with me, right?