Facing a CT Scan? Think About Radiation

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My doctor wants me to have one again this year. I had one last year and one the preceding year. There is a very slight dilation in my aorta leading from the aortic valve, caused by a congenital bicuspid aortic valve. There is no change, for the last three years. Therefore, since there has been no change, and because of the radiation exposure, I was hoping there was an alternative way to check on this. Thank you. I am a healthy, slim woman, 65 years old.

of NY 2:16PM January 28, 2009

36 year old mommy,

Just like the previous post says, it hasn't yet been determined exactly how much radiation is needed to cause cancer. I realize that this statement sounds alarming. Look at it this way. How many minutes of exposure to UV rays from the sun is needed before one gets skin cancer? This hasn't been determined yet either but that doesn't stop us from going to the beach or the tanning booth. Here's another analogy, how many times does one have to cross the street before he will get hit by a car? The answer could be one time or a million times. If you need to cross the street to pick up your kid from school then you cross the street, right?

The amount of radiation that you say you've had in the time span that you report is not an unusual amount. If that's all you ever have for the rest of your life, then don't worry about it. If you have a medical problem and it is determined that an x-ray or a CT scan is needed to diagnose or help treat the problem you have to decide what is the more immediate risk to your life, the disease that you have now or the cancer that you might or might not get 20 years from now that might or might not have anything to do with the CT scan you recived in the past.

Rad of MI 11:43AM December 29, 2008

I am a curious, healthy, 36 year old mommy of two babies, what is the alloted radiation dosage to avoid cancer? I am within 'normal' range of radiation? Personally I have had 1 ct scan of thorax w/out die, 2 chest x-rays and 1 x-ray on both shoulders in the past year. Should I be concern of getting cancer from all these tests? I also have never had a x-ray in my past before and I plan to never have another x-ray for many, many years to come...ever.

Tracy K of CA 6:51PM December 21, 2008

I really don't think people understand this whole dose-limit thing. 50 mSv is a radiology tech's YEARLY dose limit. Getting that over a 4-year period is very unlikely to kill you. Secondly, there is not a threshold dose, meaning they haven't even figured out how much radiation will cause cancer. It differs from person to person. Therefore, one person may get 3 exams done and have cancer; meanwhile, another patient may have 7 patient jackets buldging full of x-rays and not have cancer at all. As far as the man saying he should probably be glowing from all the radiation he has gotten--MYTH!! You don't walk out of an x-ray department radioactive unless you have had a nuclear medicine exam performed, and even then, the half-lives of those radioisotopes wear off usually by the end of the day. X-rays do NOT make you radioactive.

of CO 12:16PM November 21, 2008

Judy of XX,

I agree that you should be involved and informed with making medical decisions regarding your care. I do hope that if something bad (God forbid) happens as result of your decision to go against medical advice that you not try to sue your physicians. The decision was yours.

Rad of MI of MI 4:21PM October 23, 2008

Dear Steve,

I don't know who you are but you sound like a salesman for a company that is working with Mr. Schiel.

You forgot to consider the fact that the technology that you are refering to is not available to the average community hospital. This technology will also come at a very steep price because it is new and still yet to be proven. What hospital can afford this? Current technology is already expensive, as you have pointed out.

There is no fear of change among radiologists as you have suggested. If there were a fear of change of technology we wouldn't be using CT and MRI today or PET scanning today.

What insurance company will pay for this technology? If you think that the cost of uneccesary CT scans is contributing to the increase in health care what do you think the cost of this new technology will do?

There are a number of reasons that currently CT is used more often than MRI. CT is more readily available, it is cheaper than MRI and will not interfere with pacemakers and other implanted medical devices. Also, MRI has limitations with regards to imaging bowel. Current level of MRI requires patients to hold still for much longer times than CT. Current MRI technology has not proven to be the exam of all exams as was once thought when it was first introduced.

Rad of MI of MI 4:13PM October 23, 2008

I HAVE BEEN GETTING SEVERE HEADACHES AND TOLD I MAY HAVE GIANT CELL ARTERITIS SO A TEMPORAL BIOPSY WAS ORDERED WHICH I REFUSED MUCH TO THE ANNOYANCE OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. THIS DISEASE'S SYMPTOMS HAVE NEVER MATERIALISED IN OVER 2 YEARS APART FROM THE OCCASIONAL HEADACHES.....NOW THEY WANT A CT SCAN WHICH I ALSO REFUSED AFTER READING UP ON IT....WILL ANY OF THESE PEOPLE CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO US IN THE FUTURE AS A RESULT OF ALL THEIR TESTING?..I VERY MUCH DOUBT IT......I THINK YOU ARE BETTER FOLLOWING YOUR OWN INTUITION IN A LOT OF THESE CASES...

JUDI 8:23AM October 04, 2008

Dear Matthew,

What if I told you that 98% of CT Scanning was unnecessary?

In the last decade Radiologists have increasingly defaulted detailed diagnostic studies to dangerous radiation based CT. Less and less has been demanded from MRI technology and subsequently the use and advancement of high-end MRI has lagged far behind what could be demanded from MRI capabilities.

Almost a decade ago, Lee Schiel pioneered acquisition strategies and 3D rendering of MRI data that far outpaced what the existing medical community has produced. And for almost a decade that same medical community has ignored the further advancement of this technology, even in the face of worldwide accolades in medical and research journals. The result: undiagnosed injuries, undiagnosed disease processes, unnecessary surgeries, and unnecessary catastrophic injuries.

If Lee Schiel’s technology was put into widespread use TODAY, the necessity of harmful radiation based CT imaging could diminish by 98%, MRI diagnostic accuracy could increase by an order of 2 -3 (4 -9 times better resolution and diagnostic ability) and the use of severely invasive exploratory surgery would all but become extinct.

We are looking at the face of a medical revolution…a diagnostic revolution, that will affect every aspect of health care today from better diagnostics, more affective (and appropriate) treatment protocols, rehabilitation and healing prior to catastrophic injury, and a substantial reduction in health care costs.

So why then is the medical community turning a blind eye to this new technology? Here are a couple of possibilities:

Financial – Radiologists and hospitals are so in debt from purchasing CT and MRI technology that they have to get the 10+years of use from their assets to breakeven. So they are not open to hearing about "new" technologies that make their investments obsolete.

Fear of change – reading and interpreting the new data sets in volume MRI requires looking at 3 dimensional images, like a video game, swimming through the anatomy from infinite oblique angles. A brilliant breakthrough, but requires a reeducation for radiologists and would require the radiologist to sift through significantly more data that could make them liable if they were to overlook critical data. Current radiology strategies look at a wall of 2 dimensional images with missing data between slices, a process that has been proven to miss life saving information, where the new 3-D imaging data is cubed with no gaps in-between, therefore offering larger amounts of information to sift through and find health abnormalities and injuries.

If you would like more to this story, please contact me and I will connect you with Lee Schiel.

Sincerely,

Steve Wilson

714-337-9429

Steve Wilson of CA 3:53PM August 18, 2008

*sigh* I have Crohn's disease and COPD. I couldn't even BEGIN to count the number of radiology procedures and films I've had thru the years! I only started requesting and keeping my medical records since 1996. The medical profession has maintained a "medieval mindset" for the most part until the advent of HIPAA regarding patients' access to their medical records.

Mayo Clinic is currently comparing MR Enterography vs CT Enterography and unforunately, except for the rectal area, CTE's are much more accurate for Crohn's disease. Also, unfortunately, I am not a candidate for the Capsule Encoscopy due to prior resection and failing the Agile Patency Capsule.

When one has Crohn's disease in the "dark continent" (the small intestine) we are very much the "victims" of the skill and experience of the radiologist in recognizing Crohn's disease activity. Our local hospital now sub-contracts w/radiologists and neither we nor our doctors have any control over which radiologist does the procedure except to request a second "reading" by a radiologist we KNOW is very experienced at recognizing the various nuances of the disease..

Crohnie of MI 11:53AM June 23, 2008

Rad of MI, you are absolutely correct. MI does have a CIN ( certificate of need) policy, however, i don't believe that is true everywhere. The issue of self referral appears to be the most significant contributing factor to the 20% yr over yr growth of imaging services, at least according to what i have read. The ER over-ordering most everything is a real issue that has been going on for years and prob not responsible for the above numbers by itself. I do understand the ER point of view at times, but often, i find it amazing how unable to see where i come from.

KIds and women, as well as patients who have somewhat limited understanding of their chronic conditions are most at risk. Increasing awareness, certainly is the key, as referring MDs will at times listen and at times ignore sound advice from our side and there are always those who need to rule out "everything." Most of what is written here by me is an oversimplification and there are dozens of examples where what i have commented on is not true...

wisdom of MI 10:46PM June 05, 2008

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