How Safe Is a CT Scan?
Computerized tomography, also known as a CT scan, has been used since 1971 to detect disease in people and provide guidance as to how the disease should be treated. A CT scan is generally considered safe to use; so safe that doctors consider it one of their most trusted pieces of medical equipment. This x-ray procedure is painless and commonly used in hospitals. During the scan, several images are taken. After this occurs, a computer organizes the images into detailed pictures of bone, tissue, and blood vessels. When a patient undergoes a CT scan, he or she is exposed to a small amount of radiation. This radiation is used to take a picture of the patient’s internal organs. Once the CT scan concludes, no traces of radiation remain within the body. The image captured by the CT scan is an accurate, detailed picture that permits the doctor to diagnose and pinpoint an array of medical conditions. As technology has improved throughout the decades, so has the performance of the CT scan. The i
There has been a lot of general information and sensational claims in the news recently3 about the radiation exposure you receive when undergoing a computed tomography (CT) medical imaging exam. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s the most ungrounded claims that get repeated over and over again. The study in question compared the radiation exposure and effects experienced by atomic bomb survivors in Japan to present day patients who receive computed tomography (CT) scans. This may not provide a reliable base for comparison. Most CT exams are performed in a controlled setting which results in limited radiation exposure to a small portion of the body. The atomic bomb survivors experienced instantaneous radiation exposure to the whole body across a full spectrum of radiation. (X-rays, particulate radiations, neutrons and other radioactive materials.) CT exams expose patients solely to X-rays. The known biological effects are very different for these two scenarios. The probability is very small
