CT Scans May Cause Cellular Damage.

By Dr Deepu

Fox News (7/23, Kwan) reports that research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging suggests that “computerized tomography (CT) scans may cause cellular damage.” Investigators “examined the blood of 67 patients undergoing cardiac CT angiograms (CTA), and measured biomarkers of DNA damage before and after undergoing the procedure.” The investigators “found an increase in DNA damage and cell death after a single CT scan, but most of the cells were repaired or eliminated.” Medscape (7/23) reports that “in addition to DNA damage, the group also observed a significant increase in cellular apoptosis in 15 of 25 patients with measured levels oif apoptotic cell death before and after cardiac CT angiography.” HealthDay (7/23, Preidt) points out that “in 2007, the U.S. National Cancer Institute predicted that 29,000 future cancer cases could be linked to the 72 million CT scans performed in the country that year alone.”