Uncertainty and balance
“Estimates, although based on the best models available to the authors, are indirect, so there is a significant uncertainty about estimates,” said Stephen Duffy, a professor of cancer screening at Queen Mary University of London. “So I would tell patients that if it is recommended to have computed tomography, it would be wise to do it.”
Duffy also emphasized that within the context of the final risk of an individual’s cancer, CT scans don’t move the needle. There were just over 100,000 cancers related to 93 million scans. “It boils down to about 0.1 percent of the risk of cancer risk during the patient’s life for CT,” he said. The risk of cancer within the US population is all life About 40 percent. So the extra risk of CT scans “is small”. In general, when CT tag is taken into account mandatory, “likely benefit in the diagnosis, and then the treatment of the disease prevail over a very low increase in cancer risk.”
Doreen Lau, an authority on Biology at Brunel University of London, agreed: “Discoveries do not mean that people should avoid CT scans when they are recommended by a doctor. In most cases, the benefit of detecting or excluding serious diseases significantly exceeds a very low risk of damage.”
Despite this, the rise in CT scans in recent times may suggest that doctors may limit their use. IN Accompanying the editorial articleIlana Richman from Yale University and Mitchell Katz from NYC Health and Hospitals have discussed the ways through which doctors can make sure that that it balances the danger and advantages before using CT scans, including the use of diagnostic algorithms and offer alternative imaging options, reminiscent of ultrasound and magnetic resonance (MRIS).
“As with all complex problems, there will be no simple solution,” they write. But “education of clinicists on avoiding low value tests, and in circumstances in which alternatives are easily accessible, involving patients in the decision to perform a CT scan can help change culture and practice.”
