Healthcare Science

I Don’t Like These Odds

You should think twice before you agree to having a CT scan. You know, because of the cancer:

In 2007, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the radiation from CT scans — the tests regularly used to detect internal injuries or signs of cancer — is likely responsible for 2 percent of cancer cases in the United States.

While lots of Americans undergo CT scans (their use has tripled over the past 15 years), that research is unlikely to come up in doctors’ offices: Two-thirds of patients in a new JAMA study reported hearing nothing of the risks of the diagnostic procedure.

Sure, lots of things cause cancer, but not many of those things are intended to help you.