Reuters reports from the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America: "Every year, many patients undergo unnecessary computed tomography (CT) scans that are not indicated, exposing them to more radiation than is necessary, according to new research...The average amount of excess radiation dose per patient from unnecessary scans could mean up to an additional 20,000 radiation-induced cancer cases per year in the U.S., the authors wrote in their abstract for the meeting."
"I've been saying this for years," writes ACSH Trustee Dr. Kenneth Prager of the Columbia University Medical Center. "The number of unnecessary CT scans is enormous, as is the expense, anxiety, and radiation exposure."
"Still, patients can be very insistent on having CT scans," says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. "The conscientious physician will not cave in to unwise, indeed unsafe, demands to have unnecessary radiological tests."