CT scans diagnose afflictions from tumors to kidney stones to life-threatening diseases and injuries, such as aneurysms and blood clots leading to stroke.
But the radiation emitted by this essential diagnostic tool may cause more harm than previously known and could eventually be responsible for roughly 5% of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S. in a single year, a new study finds.
"Medical imaging has potential benefits," said radiologist Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, an epidemiology professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and lead author of the study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. "It has potential harms as well, and it's really important to balance them."
Scientists long ago established that ionizing radiation emitted by computed tomography, or CT, scans increases cancer risk. But, since 2007, use of the imaging technique has surged 35%, the study says, due in part to growth in what Smith-Bindman and her colleagues call "low-value, potentially unnecessary imaging."
A former senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is facing charges...
When Bug got home from school one winter afternoon in late 2024, his mother was on...
A Pennsylvania court on Monday said that the state’s constitution guarantees a right to abortion while...
Donald Trump has selected Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),...
