The Cancer Risk Takes a Back Seat

With diagnostic imaging procedures there is a small risk of developing cancer due to the exposure to radiation. Over the last several years studies have been conducted that show that procedures such as the CT scan can present a risk of developing future cancer, especially in kids. While there are measures that are being taken in order to control radiation doses, there is still that worry a CT scan will lead to some sort of untimely demise. There is proof to indicate that while there is a real risk of cancer, it’s outweighed by the need for acute treatment.

With complex conditions the risks of taking a turn for the worst only increases if certain measures are not taken. A lot of the studies that have been used to determine cancer risks often times use an assumption of perfect health, which can be inaccurate given the nature of some conditions. If a person is suffering from some form of trauma, a cancer, or something else, the need for a scan becomes imperative. While it’s necessary to keep that in mind, it doesn’t mean that CT scans should be abused for the purpose of turning a dollar.

It was stated in healthday.com that “The rate of CT use has increased about 10 percent annually over the past 15 years, according to the study, and nearly 80 million CT scans were done in the United States alone in 2010. Computer models have estimated that up to 2 percent of cancers in the United States can be attributed to CT scanning.” A rate of 2 percent is not such an enormous number that CT scans should be placed on a danger list. It’s fair to look at the statistics of how many people die of unrelated cases every year. A complex condition can be a situation without remedy prior to any sort of scan.