RE: Children may get too much radiation in CT scan

[Kirtland Sarah CDR <KirtlandS@oki10.med.navy.mil>]

I didn't see the Oprah show, but I did see the Today show, 24 Jan,
interviewed by Katie Couric.  The guest was called a radiation biologist at
Columbia-Presbyterian hospital in New York who said people who had had CT
studies as children were at higher risk to develop cancer later in life.  He
said among other things that:
	a.  more children are getting CTs now than in the past (he was
concentrating on head and abdomen studies);
	b.  that adult doses for CTs can be scaled down for children and
that they are now doing that at Columbia-Presbyterian;
	c.  children are going to live longer after the CT than adults and
so have a longer period in which to develop cancer as a result of the CT
exams;
	d.  I'm sorry I don't remember the specifics of the studies - I seem
to remember 1500 cases being looked at.

-----Original Message-----
From: glen.vickers@exeloncorp.com [mailto:glen.vickers@exeloncorp.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2001 12:00 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: RE: Children may get too much radiation in CT scan


Did anyone see the Oprah Winfrey show where she encouraged everyone to get a
full body CT much like a annual health check up.  Of course she described
the unit as using electronic beams to scan the image, not radiation.  Isn't
the full body dose around 2 rem?  Can't quite remember from an old CHP study
course, but if that is the case, that's probably more "deadly" radiation
than the 90th percentile group for nuclear power workers in the U.S.

glen.vickers@exeloncorp.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Bernard L Cohen [SMTP:blc+@pitt.edu]
> Sent:	Wednesday, January 24, 2001 7:48 AM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	Re: Children may get too much radiation in CT scan
> 
> 
> On Tue, 23 Jan 2001, dkosloff1 wrote:
> 
> > Here is the origin of the risk estimate, with references.  The
> references
> > all appear to be advisory bodies, with no regulatory bodies represented.
> > 
> > "Estimated Risks of Radiation-Induced Fatal Cancer from Pediatric CT"
> > 
> > "The linear extrapolation without a dose threshold that is used to
> > extrapolate cancer risks to very low doses has been the subject of much
> > debate [37,38,39,40]; however, the main regulatory and advisory groups
> that
> > have reported on this issue [12, 13, 41, 42] have all concluded that the
> > most scientifically credible approach to risk extrapolation to this dose
> > range is a linear extrapolation from greater doses, which is the
> assumption
> > implicitly adopted here."
> 
> > 37.  Strom DJ, Cameron JR, Cohen BL. The LNT model is appropriate for
> the
> > estimation of risk from low-level (less than 100 mSv/year) radiation,
> and
> > low levels of radon in homes should be considered harmful to health. Med
> > Phys 1998;25:273 -278[Medline]
> 
> 	--This was a combination of 3 papers, one by each of us. John
> Cameron's and mine were showing how LNT was wrong, while Strom's supported
> LNT. The title quoted here is from Dan Strom's paper.
> 
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