Another New Study Confirms Radiation From CT Scans Linked To Increased Risk Of Cancer
Source: Thailand Medical News Nov 19, 2019 5 years, 3 days, 18 hours, 47 minutes ago
Medical researchers from Taiwan have discovered from a new research that exposure to
radiation from
CT scans is associated with
higher risks of developing
thyroid cancer and
leukemia. The finds of the study was published today in the medical journal,
JNCI Cancer Spectrum.
The medical researchers conducted study from a National Health Insurance dataset in Taiwan between 2000 and 2013. The study followed 22,853
thyroid cancer, 13,040 l
eukemia, and 20,157
non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases.
The researchers consulted data from the National Health Insurance program to study demographic and medical information on disease diagnoses, procedures, and drug prescriptions, and the enrollment profiles of all patients. Patients were excluded if they were under 25 years at the time of the
cancer diagnosis, had less than three years of follow-up before
cancer diagnosis, or had a history of a
cancer before the year 2000.
The research results showed that patients who developed
thyroid cancer and l
eukemia had significantly higher likelihood of having received
CT scans. In studies that combined patients across age groups, exposure to medical
CT scans was not associated with increased risk for
non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
However in patients between 36 and 45 years of age, there was a three-fold increased risk of
non-Hodgkin lymphoma associated with
CT scans. In older patients the association between exposure to
CT scans and
non-Hodgkin lymphoma was not evident.
The researchers concluded that patients receiving
CT scans had in general marked increases in the risk of developing
thyroid cancer and
leukemia, especially in female patients and patients younger than 45.
Dr Yu-Hsuan Joni Shao, one of the paper's authors told
Thailand Medical News in a phone interview this morning, "Our study found that
CT scans are associated with an increased risk of
thyroid cancer and
leukemia in adults in all ages and with
non-Hodgkin lymphoma in young adults. The risk is stronger in patients who have higher cumulative doses from multiple scans. The increased numbers of people undergoing
CT scans have become a public health issue."
The findings from this study is extremely disturbing as millions of people globally undergo medical imaging each year and many doctors and even private hospitals deliberately make patient to undergo unnecessary
CT scans merely to increase their billings.
This is not the first study to uncover the correlation between
CT Scans and
cancer
, as there has been a few in the past but most have been suppressed by the medical community or merely downplayed.
Calls to three major
medical imaging companies senior executives for comments about this study was met by refusals to comment.
Reference: Exposure to Tomographic Scans and Cancer Risks, Yu-Hsuan Shao, Kevin Tsai, Sinae Kim, Yu-Jen Wu, Kitaw Demissie JNCI Cancer Spectr, pkz072, https://doi.org/10.1093/jncics/pkz072 
