Research Links Radiation From CT Scans To Cancer Risk

(SmartAboutHealth) - A new study has found alink between the radiation people are exposed to during CT scans, and an increased risk of cancer.

The study was carried out by researchers led by Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman from the University of California, San Francisco. What they found may change the frequency at which CT scans are given.

CT scans are extremely common in the U.S. as well as other countries around the world.

They are usually given to patients on an annual basis and are given to over 65 million people yearly.

The CT scans are highly-effective in the way in which theya re able to show scans of the body to help diagnose medical conditions.

The problem with them though is that they expose patients to an extremely high level of radiation.

CT scans expose patients to far more radiation than through a normal X-ray, and the study has shown that this causes an increased cancer risk.

The study was carried out by collecting data from over 1,100 patients from the San Francisco area.

What they found was that the dose of radiation they were exposed to varied greatly.

Those who were exposed to high levels of radiation saw their risk of cancer increase considerably.

The conclusion was that the CT sacns would cause roughly 30,000 future cases of cancer, and roughly 14,000 deaths.

The report was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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