CT Scan = Nuclear Bomb Exposure

Overzealous doctors who order unnecessary body scans that use X-ray technology are placing their patients at risk of cancer, radiologists warn.

According to NewScientist, radiation from such scans is in some cases equivalent to that received by some survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs, they say. In response, hospitals and professional associations are taking new steps to promote more careful use of scanning technologies.

Radiologists are particularly concerned about the use of computed tomography, also known as CT or CAT scans. This technology involves the use of an X-ray generating device that rotates around the patient’s body. These powerful beams are picked up by an array of detectors and used by a computer to generate a three-dimensional view of a body region.

Experts agree that when used correctly, such scans can save lives. However, according to some estimates, the radiation exposure a patient receives from a full-body CT scan is often 500 times that of a conventional X-ray and about the same as that received by people living 2.4 kilometers away from the centers of the World War II atomic blasts in Japan.


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