© 2004 by Oxford University Press
© 2004 Oxford University Press
NEWS |
Full-Body CT Screening: Preventing or Producing Cancer?
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Full-body computed tomography (CT) screening may constitute more of a cancer risk than a cancer foil, say researchers who, in a new study, liken the radiation exposure during a single scan to that experienced within miles of a World War II atom bomb explosion.
Although the research is being hailed by groups who do not support such screening, which is unregulated and varies considerably in quality, others say there is still a place for more conservative and cautious practitioners who can screen patients efficiently from the shoulders to the pelvis for a number of cancers, including lung and colon cancer, as well as heart disease and other health threats.
"Full body CT screening definitely has a place, but it needs to be
used intelligently," said Max Rosen, M.D., an associate professor of
radiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston and medical director of Be Well
Body Scan in Chestnut Hill,