CT « Understanding Cancer

Can a CT scan give you cancer?

Can a CT scan give you cancer? Yes, occasionally. A research study published on the 14th of December 2009 looked at whether CT scans increase your risk of cancer, this was covered in the Press and Journal “CT scans may increase risk of cancer“. CT scans (also known as CAT scans) use X-rays (a [...]

Lung cancer – Why don’t we look for it?

Lung cancer is often discovered at an advanced stage, when it has already spread, this means the survival rate for lung cancer is very low. So why aren’t we doing more about this? We know that smoking causes lung cancers, so why don’t we give smokers an x-ray or a scan to look for [...]

Tesco’s & whole body CT’s – Would you have one?

Tesco’s are in the news today for offering money off whole body CT scans using their clubcard points. The Society of Radiographers thinks it’s bad because there is no evidence that scanning healthy people means they live longer. The company offering the scans, LifeScan, thinks whole body scans are a good idea because such [...]