Dental News - More evidence scanned in CT cancer debate

Daniel Zimmermann, DTI

Wed. 16 December 2009

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NEW YORK, NY, USA/LEIPZIG, Germany: New data by the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) is supporting evidence that computer tomographic scans, known generally as CT, might pose a greater risk for cancer. The study, which estimated the radiation exposure associated with the 11 most common types of CT procedures in the US, found a significant variation for the same type of tomography procedures across clinics and institutions. According to the researchers, their study is the first large-scale examination of radiation doses given to patients that underwent different types of CT procedures.

The study is not the first that claims to have found a connection between CT scans and higher prevalence of cancer. In the November 2009 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, Drs David J. Brenner and Eric J. Hall from Columbia University, USA, already raised concerns over possible radiation effects of CT scans. Their research suggested that the current proportion of cancers attributable to CT-associated radiation could be as great as 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent.

“Our study provides some initial data documenting the doses that patients receive when they undergo actual CT examinations and this is different than the doses when phantoms—sophisticated plastic models typically used to quantify CT scanner dose—are used,” said lead investigator Dr Rebecca Smith-Bindman, a professor of radiology at UCSF. "We believe documenting the actual doses that patients are exposed to is the first step to reducing those doses and any attendant risk."

CT is associated with higher radiation exposure than conventional x-rays, yet radiation dosages that patients receive from the newer CT scanners have gone largely unregulated, according to Smith-Bindman. She emphasised that further investigations into CT safety are a must. “It is imperative, particularly given these results, that we start collecting radiation dose data at the individual patient level. Our results point toward the need to start collecting data on what actually happens in clinical practice and then to establish the appropriate standards.”

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