How Your Doc Could be Give You Cancer | Men's Health News

Think twice before entering the tube.

Before your doc orders a CT scan for your busted shoulder following that backyard football game, counter with this question: Is that necessary? The number of CT scans in the U.S. tripled between 1996 and 2010, according to a recent Journal of the American Medical Association study, and almost a third might be done unnecessarily for things like headaches.

While a CT scan can pinpoint internal injuries or cancer with highly-detailed images, you?re exposing your body to doses of radiation?up to 100 to 500 times greater than a traditional X-ray?that 10 to 20 years later could lead to cancer.

Emphasis on could, as your risk is small. According to studies done during the last decade, only 1 in 5,000 adults are estimated to get cancer caused by this radiation down the road, says David Brenner, Ph.D., director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University. Still, a CT scan might save your life when you need it for current diagnoses. (See what happens when a Men?s Health editor discovers he has skin cancer.)

Your goal is to avoid unnecessary scans and to ask about alternatives like ultrasounds or MRIs. For example, a CT is often used to easily spot the pebbles that come with kidney stones. But when similar symptoms return?as they often do?you could ask for an ultrasound image first instead of getting blasted again.

Whether you?ve had two or 20 CTs in the past shouldn?t affect your decision making for the next one, says Brenner. Take it case by case, but see if any other imaging could work first if you?re uneasy. If you?re told to have a CT scan for stomach cancer or something serious, though, get one. The miniscule future risk doesn?t outweigh the immediate benefits on the health teeter-totter.

If you?re still worried about all that radiation from each scan adding up, try using an app like Radiation Passport ($2.99 for iOS) to track the amount of radiological imaging you?re receiving at the hospital. (For more must-have health tips and cool tech recommendations, sign up for our FREE Daily Dose newsletter.)

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Source: http://news.menshealth.com/ct-scan-cancer/2012/08/29/

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