Unnecessary CT Scans Pose Risk

Routine CT scans may pose unexpected radiation hazards. Many people think of a “Cat” scan as rather benign. It certainly sounds less scary than an X-ray. But CT scans use a lot of X-radiation. Some experts estimate that a typical scan is comparable to 400 chest X-rays.
Now scientists from the University of Wisconsin in Madison suggest that too many people are being needlessly exposed. More than half the patients in their study had received CT scans that were unnecessary. These experts calculate that as many as 20,000 cases of cancer each year might be attributed to the excessive radiation in CT scans.
[Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, Dec. 1, 2009]