Yearly full body scan ups cancer risk

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 31 Aug 2004 - 13:00 PDT


The natural cancer mortality risk without radiation is about 1 in 4, it is estimated that the risk for a single full-body CT scan is a cancer mortality of about 1 in 1200. The estimated cancer mortality risk for a series of 30 full body CT scans starting age 40 is about 1 in 50.

You can read about this study in the journal Radiology (September issue).

Researchers found that a 45 year old who has one CT scan has a lifetime risk of developing cancer of 0.08%. But if that person were to have a full body scan every year for thirty years his/her cancer risk goes up to 1.9%.

Lead author, David Brenner said "Our research provides definitive evidence that radiation risk is associated with full-body CT scans." David Brenner is Professor of Oncology and Public Health at Columbia University, Manhattan, USA.

Prof. Brenner added "The radiation dose from a full-body CT scan is comparable to the doses received by some of the atomic-bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where there is clear evidence of increased cancer risk."

The researchers had compared effective radiation dose from a full body scan on a person (a weighted average over all relevant organs) to cancer mortality information from atomic bomb attack survivors in Japan during the Second World War.

CT scans affect internal organs much more than traditional X-rays, the radiation dose is much larger on those organs. The organs receive 100 more radiation than what is delivered from a mammogram screening.

The reason the researchers carried out this study is that many radiologists are concerned at the number of people who are carrying out CT scans in their yearly check up, even though they have no symptoms of any illnesses.

The CT scans are incredibly detailed - they can reveal anomalies in your body which are less than one hundredth of an inch wide.

Brenner said people who need a scan because the physician recommends it for some reason should carry on having them, the benefits in these cases far outweigh the risks. Whether or not people should have the scans when they are showing no symptoms at all is another matter.

Brenner and his team also stressed that CT scanners have varying levels of radiation. One risk assessment cannot apply to all the machines.

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