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NEWS ABOUT: CT scans

CT Scans Cut Lung Cancer Deaths 20%

They're better than X-rays at catching tumors early: Study

(Newser) - CT scans of smokers can detect lung cancer at an early phase and cut the death rate by 20%, says a new study. Duke University researchers found that the scans were much better than regular chest X-rays at catching tumors at a more treatable phase, reports USA Today . The results... More »

CT Scan Overuse Raises Radiation, Cancer Fears

The US gets more radiation from scans than any country

(Newser) - The top radiation source Americans should be worrying about isn't airport scanners or microwaves—it's medical tests. The US leads the world in the amount of radiation its population gets from medical scans, and the average American's dose has grown more than sixfold in recent decades. Patients are being given... More »

In Wake of Radiation ODs, CT Scans Get New Rules

New scanners will be preset, older ones will be retrofitted

(Newser) - CT scans will come with new safeguards ordered by the FDA yesterday, following accidental radiation overdoses last year at hospitals in California and Alabama. The agency is also looking at software fixes for existing equipment to reduce the possibility of unsafe dosage, reports the the Los Angeles Times , and encouraging... More »

CT Scans Cause Cancer: Study

Scans could be causing 14,500 deaths annually, researchers say

(Newser) - The overuse of CT scans could be causing 14,500 cancer deaths a year, according to two studies published today. Researchers found that machines varied widely in how much radiation they exposed patients to, often leading to big, hidden risk. A typical chest scan, for example, is the equivalent of... More »

Probe of Radiation ODs Spreads to 4 Sites

Agency suspects brainb scan problem could be nationwide

(Newser) - The FDA has widened a probe into radiation overdoses received during brain scans to include four hospitals, and now suspects the problem could be nationwide. Three hospitals in Los Angeles County and one in Alabama are being investigated after patients received up to eight times the normal amount of radiation... More »

Heart Disease: Pharaohs Had It, Too

'Part of the human condition,' so fast food not only culprit

(Newser) - In a finding that pokes holes in the thinking that our modern fast-food lifestyle is behind heart disease, scientists have discovered that Egypt’s mummies, too, had hardened arteries. “Atherosclerosis is not just a disease of modern times,” one researcher tells WebMD . “It’s part of the... More »

LA Patients Get Deadly Blast of Radiation in Screw-Up

Hospital hits hundreds of stroke patients with 8 times the normal dose

(Newser) - A mistake at LA’s famed Cedars-Sinai hospital has subjected more than 200 patients to dangerous levels of radiation. Everyone who has come to the hospital with a suspected stroke since February 2008 has gotten eight times the normal dose of radiation, the LA Times reports. That was when technicians... More »

Costs Soar as Docs Order and Perform Tests

Fishy practice highlights challenge of medical regulation

(Newser) - As Congress wrestles with health-care reform, studies show it’s tough to regulate the status quo: Doctors’ “self-referrals” for medical imaging have continued despite efforts to legislate against them, the Washington Post reports. Doctors who own the equipment that scans patients stand to make more cash—and tend to... More »

Troop Autopsies Yield Life-Saving Clues

Decision to autopsy all US war dead helps military eliminate equipment flaws

(Newser) - Navy pathologist Capt Craig T. Mallak's groundbreaking decision to order autopsies on every US casualty killed in Iraq and Afghanistan has helped save the lives of American troops, the New York Times reports. The autopsies—and, since 2004, CT scans—have allowed the military to build a huge database on... More »

Nefertiti Bust May Be Ancient 'Makeover'

(Newser) - Nefertiti’s image as a flawless beauty of antiquity may not be entirely accurate, Reuters reports. New computer scans reveal a slightly different face at the core layer of the Egyptian queen’s famous 3,300-year-old bust than the finely chiseled planes of the statue’s surface—one with a... More »

Study Backs Virtual Colonoscopy

Computer scan as effective as invasive procedure

(Newser) - A new study has found a virtual colonoscopy to be almost as effective as a conventional invasive procedure in detecting colon cancer, USA Today reports. Virtual colonoscopies, using scans and computer imaging, discovered 90% of the cancers located by regular colonoscopies, in which a scope is physically passed through the... More »

Upbeat Cancer Research Funded by Big Tobacco

Cigarette bucks paid for controversial lung cancer study

(Newser) - Tobacco money paid for research that said CT scans could prevent 80% of lung cancer deaths, the New York Times reports. The news has shocked cancer researchers, who are generally loathe to have anything to do with cigarette companies. “If you’re using blood money, you need to tell... More »

Virtual Surgery Coming Soon?

3D models of patients' bodies would let surgeons practice first

(Newser) - Within five years, surgeons may be able to create 3D virtual models of patients' bodies in order to practice surgeries ahead of time. While current virtual surgery lags far behind the realism of, say, combat video games, a UCLA assistant math professor believes this could change soon, reports Scientific American.... More »

Lung Scans Fail To Cut Deaths

New study disputes value of CT scans for early detection

(Newser) - CT scans, once hailed as a breakthrough in early detection of lung cancer, fail to save lives, according to research published yesterday. In a study of 3,246 smokers or former smokers, the scans led to the discovery of more tumors—and more surgeries—than in a control group, but... More »

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