EFN

According to a new study, millions of Americans each year are subjected to various forms of medical imaging test, thus exposing them to high enough doses of radiation to increase their risk of cancer.

As many as 400,000 of these patients who receive these tests are subjected to extremely high doses of radiation – doses that are higher than the yearly exposure allowed for employees of nuclear power plants.

Computed tomography (CT) scans are the most commonly used tests, followed by nuclear stress tests done to check for heart disease. The nuclear imaging test is the procedure that is attributed to the largest single exposure to radiation.

The concern with the number of these types of imaging test being performed is that there really isn’t enough proof that these tests are even necessary or do anything to improve a patient’s health. One study estimates that one-third of CT scans many not be needed, exposing the people who receive them to potentially cancer-causing levels of radiation.

These new studies have not forecasted a definite number of cancer cases that exposure to radiation like this could cause, but some experts suggest it could result in tens of thousands more cancer cases in the next few decades.

With this in mind, doctors should always discuss the risks of theses tests with their patients. The patient and the doctor together should decide if the test will actually help the doctor make better decisions in treating the patient.