CT Scan

Cat Scans dogging the industry?

Cat Scans dogging the industry?

"CT scans also dose patients with ionizing radiation, a known human carcinogen, posing a potential downside for public health. Mounting health worries over radiation risks are now driving efforts to limit avoidable CT scans and to reduce radiation doses where possible. “There’s a national focus on this issue right now,”....... "  
( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3295369/ )

"Until 10 years ago, we didn't appreciate how much radiation exposure was incurred by certain tests. Now we know. Moreover, we understand that it's not only the dose that raises risk, but also when and where the radiation is given," says Dr. Warren Manning, chief of noninvasive cardiac imaging and testing at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a professor at Harvard Medical School. "One or two CT scans over a lifetime is appropriate. But if you have a condition that requires repeated monitoring, a test that does not expose you to ionizing radiation, like cardiac ultrasound or MRI, may be preferable......."
( http://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/radiation-from-ct-other-cardiac-tests-can-be-a-problem )
 

On the other hand, the website dedicated to furthering radiology (bought and paid for by the industry) tells us:

*There is no recommended limit on how many computed tomography (CT) scans you can have.
*Effects from radiation are too rare to be a significant consideration, and exceptions are unusual.
*In patients age 60 and older, radiation exposure is not as significant an issue.
*Studies show that the risk of cancer from CT scans is extremely low.
( http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=safety-hiw_08 )

Gosh, can't argue with that! We should build a wall around all those doomsayers! Send 'em back to wherever they came from!

During one hospital stay they were giving me an "in room" X-ray twice a day. I demanded to know who the physicians were that were ordering them. I refused any more until they gave me the names.. I never got the names and the X-rays stopped.

You have a right to question and/or refuse whatever treatment you feel uncomfortable with; you have got to be your own advocate, and you should never fear saying NO.

Trust yourself and allow your instinct for survival be your guide.

Be well,

John

 

It depends

You have to weigh the risk against the information you might gain to clarify your diagnosis and stay ahead of the cancer.   CT scans in combination with PET scans, a PET/CT, can provide a lot of usefull information if read by an experienced radiologist.    Also, newer machines deliver less radiation than older machines.  Also, keep in mind that chemo probably does a lot more harm to the body than the scans, but you do the chemo, because on balance, it lengthens sruvival.   My wife had stage 4 colon cancer.   My worry was too few scans and too few CEA tests (which are cheap), because cancer can surge quickly, which it did in her case, right after she finished her first chemo series.   In retrospect, I wish I had pushed her doctors harder for more scans/CEA.  

If you seem to be stable, then the least you can do is track CEA fairly frequently, more fequently than the doctors will normally do, and be sensitive to your own body'ss changes. Follow up on everything.  Make no non-conservative assumptions.  In stable cases a scan might not be warranted until another marker like CEA starts to increase.

Also, given what is now known about the tunor growth stimulating effects of insulin & IGF-1 I would be testing for those as well every month or so and modify your diet until these markers are at or near the low end of their reference ranges.  Your oncologist will likely look at you with fish eyes if you suggest this - but insist.