Children at emergency departments in the U.S. had five times as many CT scans in 2008 as they did in 1995, according to a recent study, increasing not only risks associated with radiation exposure but also risk of “incidentalomas,” the term physicians use for incidental findings that could be (but probably aren’t) cancer. In addition,….
Continue ReadingRadiation Safety
The Coming Cancer Epidemic from Overuse of CT Scans
The medical community is waking up to an enormous problem with radiation – mainly X-rays and CT scans – used to diagnose disease and injury. Patients are getting too much radiation, and the excess itself causes injuries, many years down the road, in a big uptick in the risk of cancer. Even a “routine” CT….
Continue ReadingDoctor who botched prostate cancer brachytherapy procedures at VA hospital sanctioned
A physician who gave nearly 100 veterans with prostate cancer incorrect doses of radiation has been sanctioned by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The errors involved the incorrect placement of iodine-125 seeds in patients to treat prostate cancer. Out of 116 such brachytherapy procedures performed at the facility between 2002 and 2008, the VA reported….
Continue ReadingRadiation Therapy Malpractice: A Deadly Combination of Errors
Why do patients who need focused, precise doses of radiation get walloped with huge overdoses that cause serious and even fatal injuries? A deadly combination of non-user-friendly radiation equipment, incompatible software when machines from different manufacturers are cobbled together, user error by the technicians administering the radiation, and lax regulation by federal authorities: All these….
Continue ReadingA simple question to ask your dentist about X-ray safety
X-rays in the dental chair carry a small but cumulative risk of causing cancer, and there are simple ways to reduce the risk. One is to ask the dentist if he or she is using “fast” X-ray film, which allows a smaller X-ray exposure to get the same quality image. The majority of dental offices….
Continue ReadingCT Scan Screening for Lung Cancer: Saving Lives at a Big Pricetag, and Who Should Pay?
The news about a major government study that found 20 percent fewer deaths in a group of heavy smokers who got annual CT scan screening for lung cancer has a few more statistics that are sobering for the rest of us who pay the price as a society for this screening. The study enrolled 50,000….
Continue Reading“The Mammography Wars” and Doctors’ Conflicts of Interest
It was nearly a year ago that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force caused a huge uproar with the mildest imaginable recommendation about mammograms, and now two physician researchers say it might be time to point out that certain emperors are wearing no clothes. In their Sounding Board article in the New England Journal of….
Continue ReadingCT Perfusion Scans: Pretty Pictures, But No Better Treatments
CT perfusion scans, often done on patients suspected of having a stroke, produce beautiful, detailed pictures of the human brain undergoing oxygen deprivation and tissue damage. But they don’t do anything to advance treatment, according to candid radiologists. This adds a new layer to the story of massive radiation overdoses with these tests at some….
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