Disturbing News of the Day

shmurciakova
shmurciakova Member Posts: 906 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I just read that a National Academy of Sciences panel concluded that even very low doses of radiation pose a risk of cancer over a persons lifetime....."It is unlikely that there is a threshold below which cancers are not induced".
It goes on to state:
"One person in 1000 would develop cancer from exposure to the amount of radiation from a single, average whole body CT-scan"...

AND
"The scientists estimated that one out of 100 people exposed to 100 millisievert of radiation over a lifetime probably would develop solid cancer or lukemia, and that half of those cases would be fatal"

FYI, 100millisievert of radiation if the amount of radiaion from ten CT-scans!

I don't know about you all, but I have already had at least 12 CT scans and 2 PET scans, not to mention multiple X-rays, not to mention mammograms! HMMMM....maybe we should all be asking ourselves and our doctors if PERHAPS 4 CT-scans a year might be a little excessive??
I have written my doctor at MD Anderson, I wonder if protocols will change as a result of this study?
Odd to be subjecting us to such a high risk of cancer when we are trying to be cured of cancer...

Comments

  • nanuk
    nanuk Member Posts: 1,358 Member
    #2
    I've got cumulative dose of about 5000 GYs or more..and then there's chemo..
    I wonder how long it takes for the radiation effects to show up? I guess it's a toss-up..poison or burn?
  • kerry
    kerry Member Posts: 1,313 Member
    #3
    Wow, I just got back from MD Anderson and had my 4th CT Scan in 7 months and am scheduled to have my next scan again in 9 weeks. Previous to that I had 3 CT scans and 1 PET scan in San Antonio before transferring to Houston.

    I have heard that CT scans do pose a risk, but when cancer is looming over our heads I think we take all the risks we can to just live a little longer.

    I took Chemo that held a warning that it might cause Leukemia later on down the road. I think that is either 5FU or Leukorvorin, which most of us have taken or maybe CPT11. So what to do???

    Well, we do our best, find the doctor we trust, and hang on for life!!

    Kerry
  • nanuk
    nanuk Member Posts: 1,358 Member
    #4
    I've got cumulative dose of about 5000 GYs or more..and then there's chemo..
  • nanuk
    nanuk Member Posts: 1,358 Member
    #5
    nanuk said:

    I've got cumulative dose of about 5000 GYs or more..and then there's chemo..

    geeezz! after all this time, ou'd think I would know how to post..sorry for the redundancy..
  • aspaysia
    aspaysia Member Posts: 250
    #6
    nanuk said:

    geeezz! after all this time, ou'd think I would know how to post..sorry for the redundancy..

    We love to hear from you, Bud. Even if you are repeating yourself.
    When I was getting my daily dose Sissy would make suggestions such as sitting closer to the TV. And don't I want to see how that frozen burrito is is coming along in the microwave? She thought that I needed all the radiation I could get. Kidding but not kidding.
    Aspaysia, who still has a tan where the sun don't shine.
  • spongebob
    spongebob Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    #7
    Ya know... if the radtion doesn't get us, the pesticides in the milk or the mercury in the fish, or the RF from our celphones, or that big bus drving down the street will get us.

    Don't misunderstand me, I havn't resigned myself to no go out kicking and screaming, I've just resigned myself to the fact that I AM going out.

    Interesting study, though. Just more proof that sometimes the cure can be worse than the affliction.

    Be well everyone!
  • bsrules
    bsrules Member Posts: 296
    #8
    spongebob said:

    Ya know... if the radtion doesn't get us, the pesticides in the milk or the mercury in the fish, or the RF from our celphones, or that big bus drving down the street will get us.

    Don't misunderstand me, I havn't resigned myself to no go out kicking and screaming, I've just resigned myself to the fact that I AM going out.

    Interesting study, though. Just more proof that sometimes the cure can be worse than the affliction.

    Be well everyone!

    Hello Everyone!! It is a scary thing but as Bob has said it seems that everything we do today seems to have a risk attached to it. I often wonder which is worse the bark or the bite. We worry about everything these days and Life is to short to waste!!! We do the best that we can and live life to the fullest!!!!

    Now I just have to take and listen to my own advise.

    Sue
  • taraHK
    taraHK Member Posts: 1,952 Member
    #9
    Tough issue. My doctors are pretty aggressive about testing -- and I am living with the positive side of that right now -- a routine CT scan caught a very tiny recurrence which could be surgically resected. I accept that the various tests may have (do have?) long-term effects -- I just hope it's slow-acting! I'm planning/racing to outlive that!
    Tara
  • kangatoo
    kangatoo Member Posts: 2,105 Member
    #10
    taraHK said:

    Tough issue. My doctors are pretty aggressive about testing -- and I am living with the positive side of that right now -- a routine CT scan caught a very tiny recurrence which could be surgically resected. I accept that the various tests may have (do have?) long-term effects -- I just hope it's slow-acting! I'm planning/racing to outlive that!
    Tara

    Remember the old addage...."damned if you do n damned if yah don't"
    Techno stuff being as it is holds a lot of questions. If say, given the choice of 5fu/leucovorin again or face an early life termination or long term threat of leukemia I think I would do the chemo again.
    And Bob is quite correct.....try to imagine just how much artificial stuff we are ubjected to. Do you guys realse that even smoke alarms have a small amount of radioactive substance in them?
    " We'll all be doomed said Hanrahan!"
  • HowardJ
    HowardJ Member Posts: 474
    #11
    This is not exactly news. Radiation has always been known to cause cancer. What's new here is the statement about no threshold. It's been debated for awhile whether or not there is a threshold. Do you have the reference? I'd like to read this one.
    Howard

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