Don't just think that x-rays are always justified
The following are excerpts from an article by Dr. Jen Gunter, who we feature from time to time.
Radiation risk, from a cancer perspective, is higher the younger the age of exposure, but I don’t just think about that for [my children]. I think about it for my patients as well. I carefully weigh the risk and benefits of radiation because there is no “safe” lower dose. While it is true that the lifetime risk of cancer from medical x-rays is small, it is not zero.
The biggest risk (looking at more common procedures) comes from a CT scan of the abdomen or pelvis. When performed at the age of 20 about 1 additional person in a 1,000 will get cancer from this test, so quite small compared to the chance of getting cancer in general (about 1 in 5 people will get cancer in their lifetime), however, enough CT scans are done that the procedure raises the population’s risk and if you are that “one” then it’s 100% for you.
Please read the entire article here.
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| Cone-beam CT |
The following are excerpts from an article by Dr. Jen Gunter, who we feature from time to time.
Radiation risk, from a cancer perspective, is higher the younger the age of exposure, but I don’t just think about that for [my children]. I think about it for my patients as well. I carefully weigh the risk and benefits of radiation because there is no “safe” lower dose. While it is true that the lifetime risk of cancer from medical x-rays is small, it is not zero.
The biggest risk (looking at more common procedures) comes from a CT scan of the abdomen or pelvis. When performed at the age of 20 about 1 additional person in a 1,000 will get cancer from this test, so quite small compared to the chance of getting cancer in general (about 1 in 5 people will get cancer in their lifetime), however, enough CT scans are done that the procedure raises the population’s risk and if you are that “one” then it’s 100% for you.
Please read the entire article here.