Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, from the University of California in San Francisco, claims that overexposure to CT scan radiations can increase cancer risk.
Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, from the University of California in San Francisco, claims that overexposure to CT scan radiations can increase cancer risk.
According to a new study, she claims that these scans may cause 29,000 new cancers a year and 14,500 deaths.Also, previous studies suggest that the average American's total radiation exposure has almost doubled since 1980, primarily because of CT scans.
"It is a little scary. Everything we do in medicine has risks and benefits," the New York Daily News quoted Smith-Bindman, the study author, as saying.
According to experts, a single scan may not be harmful but overexposure can increase the risk of cancer.
Smith-Bindman said: "It's necessary to start keeping track of dosages for individual patients.
"You have to record the radiation and make it part of the patient record just like you would if a patient has an allergy to certain medicines.
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However, Smith-Bindman believes that CT scans can be made safer, as up to one-third of these scans aren't medically necessary, since even three-dimensional pictures can also diagnose cancers, aneurysms and blood clots.
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Source-ANI
TRI