Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

CT scans may raise cancer risk

|
|
 
  
Published: Nov. 30, 2007 at 6:23 AM
Advertisement

NEW YORK, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Researchers said U.S. doctors are putting patients at risk of cancer by exposing them to radiation from unnecessary diagnostic CT scans.

The report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, said that in the coming decades up to 2 percent of all cancers in the United States may be caused by radiation from computed tomography -- CT -- scans performed, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Columbia University researchers said children face the most danger, with an estimated 4 million to 5 million scans ordered for children each year. They found that CT scans can emit radiation levels comparable to that received by some people miles from the epicenters of the 1945 atomic blasts over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

The researchers are recommending that doctors try alternative diagnostic techniques and that patients question if the scans are necessary, the newspaper said.

Recommended Stories
© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The making of the Oscars The Chicago Auto Show 2011: The year in space
Mercedes-Benz fashion week In New York Tu Bishvat Migron settlement The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China
Additional Science News Stories
1 of 30
Valentine's Day Ramallah, West Bank
View Caption
fark
Empire State building IPO issued. Subby also has a bridge to sell you as well
Reverend Sun Myung Moon cedes mass wedding business to Morning Zoo dj's, let's see if anybody notices...
"No, your honor. It's just a social club. That hangs out in the woods. With high powered rifles....
New SI swimsuit cover girl is Republican congressman's niece
Can't sleep. Must eat Pope in woods. And wear his hat. Or something
What booty calls, prostitutes, cigars, the Village People have in common? They are all things FBI...