I comment on radiation and CT scans in an HD video...

Right now, CT scanners do measure the radiation dose a patient gets, but it's not a number that enters the medical record for permanent logging.

NIH has asked CT scanner makers to give them an interface to the medical record, so they can keep track of the total radiation dose a patient gets with a CT scan.

It's such a simple and good idea, I can't believe nobody ever thought of it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6100TJ20100201

HealthDay reported "Cumulative exposure to radiation from CT scans can increase the risk for cancer by as much as 12 percent." The article was published in the April issue of Radiology. The strongest risk seemed to be in people with high numbers of CT scans but we have to remember that CTs bring with them a lot of radiation. There really isn't any other way to get the information they can tell you some times so alternatives are minimal but we should be careful in how we use them.

According to American Heart Association more than 1.2 million patients in the U.S. go through cardiac angiograms every year and out of which 1 to 2% of cases results in complications and nearly 25 people die every year with this process. A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) however has revealed that noninvasive CT scans are almost as precise at imaging coronary artery blockages as against traditional angiography and are much safer for the patients.

Some radiologists published a paper using decision analysis models to "prove" that CT colonography is not inferior to colonoscopic polypectomy for colon polyps.  They used these computerized methods to show that you don't actually have to  remove the polyps you find on CT colonography. This tries to address one of the drawbacks of "Virtual" colonoscopy: you have to do all the same bowel prep but you can't remove any polyps you find.  The radiologists here are arguing that you can just leave in small polyps if you find them on the CT.

Unexplained blood clot?  Consider a CT scan to screen for cancer New study finds benefit to screening for cancer in clot patients