{"id":5447,"date":"2012-06-12T21:56:41","date_gmt":"2012-06-13T01:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/W3\/?p=5447"},"modified":"2012-06-12T21:56:41","modified_gmt":"2012-06-13T01:56:41","slug":"mri-ct-scan-use-spikes-study-finds-should-we-be-worried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1001harf.com\/mri-ct-scan-use-spikes-study-finds-should-we-be-worried\/","title":{"rendered":"MRI, CT scan use spikes, study finds. Should we be worried?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The latest medical images can provide spectacular pictures, giving doctors and patients enormous amounts of information about a wide range of medical conditions.\u00a0But doctors may have gotten overly enthusiastic about using them.<\/p>\n<\/header>\n
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A study out Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the number of MRIs quadrupled, CT scans tripled and PET scans went up 57 percent between 1996 and 2010. The researchers tracked up to 2 million members of six large health\u00a0systems in the U.S.<\/p>\n

There is no question that before performing a surgery, for example, a doctor wants to see as much as possible.\u00a0Magnetic\u00a0Resonance Imaging (MRI) uses magnets and radio frequency fields\u00a0to scan the body and help doctors make diagnoses of tumors, torn ligaments or strokes without surgery. A PET, or positron emission tomography, scan\u00a0can be conducted alone or combined with MRI\u00a0with radioactive isotopes to show metabolic activity in the body such as\u00a0cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The images help; the question is just how much.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe increase in use of advanced diagnostic images has almost certainly contributed to both improved patient care procedures and outcomes, but there are remarkably few data to quantify the benefits of imaging,\u201d radiology professor and lead author Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman from the University of California, San Francisco, and her colleagues write.<\/p>\n

Why does it matter?\u00a0The biggest reason is cost.\u00a0Americans now spend an estimated $100 billion a year on medical imaging.\u00a0For each patient, each procedure can cost between a few hundred and several thousand dollars.\u00a0Usually doctors order them for the best of reasons, but sometimes it is defensive medicine based on the fear of lawsuits or, even worse, the need to amortize the huge cost of a piece of equipment the practice has purchased.<\/p>\n

Another major downside of increased imaging is the \u201cfalse positive,\u201d which is the discovery of a growth or other apparent problem that presents no danger but needs to be removed — with additional cost and anxiety.<\/p>\n

The biggest danger with scanning comes from CT, or computed tomography.\u00a0A CT scan exposes the patient to huge amounts of X-rays.\u00a0One CT scan of the chest, for example, zaps a patient with the same amount of radiation as 150 old-fashioned X-rays.\u00a0In their survey of medical records, the authors of the latest study found that 3.9 percent of patients were receiving an exposure or more than 50 millisieverts\u00a0every year.<\/em>\u00a0In comparison, that is about the equivalent of the one-time\u00a0amount that the Japanese government estimates that the nearby residents of the Fukushima power plant got in the hours before they evacuated.<\/p>\n

A recent Institute of Medicine report on risk factors for breast cancer listed chest CT scans high on the list.\u00a0Last week, an\u00a0international study found<\/a>\u00a0that children who get CT scans have a slightly higher risk of later developing leukemia and brain cancer. While the absolute risk of cancer is still small, the British researchers suggested minimizing radiation exposure as much as possible.<\/p>\n

In a separate report released by the UCSF researchers Monday, Smith-Bindman said a woman should ask her doctor these questions before getting a CT scan:<\/p>\n