Using new laboratory technology, scientists have shown that cellular damage is detectable in patients after CT scanning. In this study, researchers examined the effects on human cells of low-dose radiation from a wide range of cardiac and vascular CT scans. These imaging procedures are commonly used for a number of reasons, including management of patients suspected of having obstructive coronary artery disease, and for those with aortic stenosis, in preparation of transcatheter aortic valve replacement.
Using new laboratory technology, scientists have shown that cellular damage is detectable in patients after CT scanning, according to a new study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
"We now know that even exposure to small amounts of radiation from computed tomography scanning is associated with cellular damage," said Patricia Nguyen, MD, one of the lead authors of the study and an assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford. "Whether or not this causes cancer or any negative effect to the patient is still not clear, but these results should encourage physicians toward adhering to dose reduction strategies."
Read more: DNA damage detected in patients after CT scanning.
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| Computed tomography (stock image). Along with the burgeoning use of advanced medical imaging tests over the past decade have come rising public health concerns about possible links between low dose radiation and cancer. The worry is that increased radiation exposure from such diagnostic procedures as CT scans, which expose the body to low-dose X-ray beams, can damage DNA and create mutations that spur cells to grow into tumors. |
