Posts Tagged ‘ct scan danger’

When it’s assessing health risk of medical radiation exposure, the trend is to underestimate the consequences of repeated exposure. We have more radiation producing technology, and a looming crisis from its use.

Unless you are Ann Coulter you are at risk. The consecutive years of all kinds of exposure are sure to add up. The culture has gotten off track and the diagnosis and treatments are factors in our radiation exposure. Today’s technology has new capabilities. However they carry too much risk and the powers that be are discharging that risk. This is a paradox of oncology while new ct scans are fueling a whole new generation of future patients.

There seems to be an unholy alliance between the pharmaceutical firms and the developing diagnosis tools. The issue is with conventional monitoring and implementation of testing.

There is data that suggest that CT scans deliver far more radiation than has been assumed. It now is thought that it may contribute to at least 30, 000 new cancers each year. This is from two studies that appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine.  One study was led by the National Cancer Institute’s Amy Berrington de Gonzalez, used existing exposure data to estimate the cancers that may be caused by CT scans.

 Another study in the journal suggests the problem may be worse. In that study, researchers found that people may be exposed to up to four times as much as estimated by earlier studies. While previous studies relied on dummies equipped with sensors, authors of the new paper studied 1,119 patients at four San Francisco-area hospitals, says author Rebecca-Smith Bindman of the University of California-San Francisco-area hospitals. Based on the higher measurements it is estimated that a patient could possibly get as much radiation from CT scan as 74 mammograms or 442 chest X-rays, she stated.

This is a bad fit in which half of oncology advisory services depend on radiation, for both diagnosis and treatment. This isn’t a proactive approach that the medical community makes it out to be. This isn’t prevention at its finest. What this type of mentality does is feed the drug companies.

These are the glory days of the partnerships and alliances of the American medical system. It is so disconnected from the real implementation and applications of life protecting policies. Expanding the scope of medical testing and treatment means trusting an industry based on its ability to mobilize its resources and research with an eye on extreme revenue growth. It will be a high price for the American public as the promise of medical science is realized in dollars and cents.

We need to rethink how we use medical testing. Sometimes, when the medical doctor says we got you covered, he means he is protecting himself from a medical-malpractice lawsuit. It isn’t just enough to offer you his guidance without all suitable and not so suitable tests. To be more specific doctors think healthcare means access to more and more tests.

We have taken healthcare to a new level.  We are being bombarded with a continuous stream of radiation through CT scans, and other powerful x-ray machines. The quest for better health through more scanning devises has been a disaster. It is a risky decision to subject patients to immeasurable amounts of radiation.

This is a perilous exercise in overcautious use of imaging testing. Americans should be prepared for higher frequency of radiation caused cancers, if this trend continues in the years to come.

Americans Get Radiated.  It can be titled:

The Dangers of Medical Radiation Exposure

CT Scans Dangers

Overuse of Medical Imaging         

Radiation Impacts Cancer Rate

Americans Get Radiated

Americans are the Winner and Loser at the same time in the radiation department.

Americans Get the Most Medical Radiation

Americans get the most medical radiation in the world, more than citizens in other rich countries. We finally win at something. The U.S. accounts for half of the most advanced procedures that use radiation and the average American’s dose had grown six fold over the last couple of decades.

This is not looking at anything but medical tests. What’s amazing is not looking at airport scanners, power lines, cell phones, or microwaves.

Americans get the most medical radiation and still have lousy health. So the biggest myth buster is more radiation is going to ensure better health. In fact it raises the cancer risk and medical costs.

Reality Check

Using technologically advanced medical imaging hasn’t changed how allopathic medicine conducts business. Americans are over tested and over treated, and yet are still unhealthy. Now, we have another source of danger acquiring too much radiation from all the testing.

Radiation accumulates over time. Doctors don’t keep track of radiation given to their patients. Also, there are no federal rules on radiation dose. Children are going to have a lifetime to accumulate more radiation exposure than any previous generation.

Sometimes machines aren’t adjusted for the patient’s size. This isn’t non-toxic and it makes plain sense to realize this generation of super X-rays that give fast, detailed images should be used very selectively. At this point in time it is used selectively, to avoid a lawsuit by misdiagnosis of a patient.

Danger

Too much radiation raises the risk of cancer. That risk is growing because people in everyday situations are getting imaging tests far too often. Like the New Hampshire teen who was about to get a CT scan to check for kidney stones until a radiologist, Dr. Steven Birnbaum, discovered he’d already had 14 of these powerful X-rays for previous episodes. Adding up the total dose, “I was horrified” at the cancer risk it posed, Birnbaum said.

When other radiologists tell him they’ve never found such a case, Birnbaum replies: “That tells me you haven’t looked.”

Another study by Columbia University researchers, published in 2007, estimated that in a few decades, as many as 2 percent of all cancers in the U.S. might be due to radiation from CT scans given now. Since previous studies suggest that a third of all tests are unnecessary, 20 million adults and more than 1 million children are needlessly being put at risk, they concluded.

Business as Usual

At this time this is how allopathic medicine conducts business. Yes, these are business decisions as well as dumb choices for safeguarding the American consumer’s health.

Spotting health problems by using ultra sophisticated scanning machines is one thing, trying to avoid a malpractice and lawsuit shouldn’t be at the expense of the patient.

Welcome to America’s defensive healthcare, with you getting bombarded with radiation so doctor’s can play it safe. Imaging that shows a problem doesn’t always mean that it will lead to effective treatment.

Americans are the Winner and Loser at the same time in the radiation department.

Americans Get the Most Medical Radiation

Americans get the most medical radiation in the world, more than citizens in other rich countries. We finally win at something. The U.S. accounts for half of the most advanced procedures that use radiation and the average American’s dose had grown six fold over the last couple of decades.

This is not looking at anything but medical tests. What’s amazing is not looking at airport scanners, power lines, cell phones, or microwaves.

Americans get the most medical radiation and still have lousy health. So the biggest myth buster is more radiation is going to ensure better health. In fact it raises the cancer risk and medical costs.

Reality Check

Using technologically advanced medical imaging hasn’t changed how allopathic medicine conducts business. Americans are over tested and over treated, and yet are still unhealthy. Now, we have another source of danger acquiring too much radiation from all the testing.

Radiation accumulates over time. Doctors don’t keep track of radiation given to their patients. Also, there are no federal rules on radiation dose. Children are going to have a lifetime to accumulate more radiation exposure than any previous generation.

Sometimes machines aren’t adjusted for the patient’s size. This isn’t non-toxic and it makes plain sense to realize this generation of super X-rays that give fast, detailed images should be used very selectively.

At this point in time it is used selectively, to avoid a lawsuit by misdiagnosis of a patient.

Danger

Too much radiation raises the risk of cancer. That risk is growing because people in everyday situations are getting imaging tests far too often. Like the New Hampshire teen who was about to get a CT scan to check for kidney stones until a radiologist, Dr. Steven Birnbaum, discovered he’d already had 14 of these powerful X-rays for previous episodes. Adding up the total dose, “I was horrified” at the cancer risk it posed, Birnbaum said.

When other radiologists tell him they’ve never found such a case, Birnbaum replies: “That tells me you haven’t looked.”

Another study by Columbia University researchers, published in 2007, estimated that in a few decades, as many as 2 percent of all cancers in the U.S. might be due to radiation from CT scans given now. Since previous studies suggest that a third of all tests are unnecessary, 20 million adults and more than 1 million children are needlessly being put at risk, they concluded.

Business as Usual $

At this time this is how allopathic medicine conducts business. Yes, these are business decisions as well as dumb choices for safeguarding the American consumer’s health.

Spotting health problems by using ultra sophisticated scanning machines is one thing, trying to avoid a malpractice lawsuit shouldn’t be at the expense of the patient.

Welcome to America’s defensive healthcare, with you getting bombarded with radiation so doctor’s can play it safe. Imaging that shows a problem doesn’t always mean that it will lead to effective treatment.