| Three out of every four (often high) doses of radiation | | | | over any period of time, to avoid any possible |
| used for heart scans are clearly inappropriate, | | | | cumulative effect, and neither are they adjusted to |
| according to a review of medical records at the Mayo | | | | avoid over-exposure for gender, age and size |
| Clinic. | | | | (women and children are among those receiving |
| CT scans of the chest or abdomen involve up to ten | | | | excessive radiation exposure as a result of such |
| times the natural radiation from the sun and soil over | | | | carelessness). |
| the course of an entire year, or anywhere from 13 | | | | Orthopedic injuries, that cannot be easily fixed by |
| percent up to 40 percent of the minimum radiation | | | | surgery, that require physical therapy as the treatment |
| received by survivors of the Japanese atomic bomb | | | | of choice, are among the highest sources of needless |
| blasts in 1945, or the Chernobyl nuclear accident in | | | | radiation exposure, according to Philadelphia primary |
| 1986. | | | | care specialist, Dr. Richard Baron. |
| A study by Columbia University researchers estimates | | | | Doctors now rely too much on "routine" scans, rather |
| that up to two percent of all Cancers in America in the | | | | than examinations and expert judgement, without |
| next few decades could be the result of CT scan | | | | understanding the need for or limitations of such |
| radiation exposure now being given to patients. | | | | diagnostic tools, according to Dr. Baron. |
| Other studies estimate than at least one-third of all | | | | Doctors make enough life and death decisions every |
| such tests, from X-Rays to CT scans, are not needed, | | | | day, without throwing into the mix the increased risk of |
| with an estimated 21 million people (1 million of them | | | | cancer developing as a direct result of their |
| children) being needlessly exposed to this risk, | | | | examinations and treatments. |
| according to the same Columbia University study | | | | If you are worried about radiation from airport and |
| published in 2007. | | | | weather radar, airport scanners, high power lines, |
| The most overused and abused diagnostic procedures | | | | electrical wiring in your home, cell and cordless phones, |
| involving excess and needless radiation exposure | | | | computers and microwave ovens (among other |
| include CT scans of the chest for heart problems, or | | | | environmental exposures), then you should definitely be |
| to see if there are any clogged arteries, chest X-rays | | | | concerned about the six-times growth in exposure |
| for routine hospital admissions or prior to surgery, lower | | | | over the past twenty years from medical sources of |
| back X-rays of older patients with stable spine | | | | radiation alone. |
| conditions, and car crash victims not exhibiting any | | | | Radiologists who think such excessive exposures are |
| signs of head trauma or abdominal injury. | | | | rare or nonexistent have simply failed to consider the |
| The dosage of such exposures could also be reduced | | | | possibility or to look for such cases, according to |
| by two-thirds with no loss in the image quality, | | | | radiologist Dr. Steven Birnbaum. |
| according to a Michigan study led by Dr. Gilbert Raff, a | | | | Overdosing on "super X-ray" CT scans, due to |
| cardiologist and radiation safety expert. | | | | overtesting with this imaging diagnostic method of |
| Another study at Columbia University, conducted by | | | | choice, is among the worst offenders in raising cancer |
| Dr. Andrew Einstein, discovered a way to lower | | | | risk for Americans, who lead the world in such |
| radiation dosage by 90 percent without affecting the | | | | exposures. |
| image quality. | | | | Little wonder, then, that the United States also leads |
| Needless multiple tests resulting in excess exposure | | | | the world in the incidence of fatal cancers, as |
| also often result from one doctor or specialist not | | | | American consumers heedlessly consume more |
| knowing what another has already ordered, also from | | | | cancer-causing radiation today than ever before. |
| routine requirements for health insurance or for | | | | There isn't much difference between the risks posed |
| students studying abroad, by doctors - especially | | | | from such modern medical procedures and the results |
| emergency room physicians - who fear malpractice | | | | of bleeding a patient to death - the way George |
| suits, and even just to appear to be doing something | | | | Washington died - by earlier generations of medical |
| due to patient demand. | | | | mispractitioners. |
| Doses of radiation exposure are often not tracked | | | | |