CT Scans of Kids in ER With Stomach Pain Skyrockets

Between 1998 and 2008, CT use ballooned from 1 percent to 15 percent of these cases, study shows

October 8, 2012 RSS Feed Print

"On the other hand, if you need a CT you really should have it," she said. "Because an alternative can be much worse. For example, let's assume that all the potential risks are real, and you have a one in 'x' chance of developing cancer from a head CT. In that case, if you don't have anything wrong with you having a CT scan is a chance you didn't need to take. On the other hand, if you have a blood clot just outside the brain your chances of dying if you don't know about it are about 100 percent," she explained.

"So if you need a CT scan you should have one," Hernanz-Schulman added. "And people should not be so scared of the potential risks, risks which this study doesn't prove one way or another."

More information

For more on CT scans, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.