In a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, computed tomography scans could account for about 5 percent of cancers diagnosed each year. The study’s authors, led by epidemiology and biostatistics researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, said the estimate was based on the current cancer rates and the current usage of CT scans.
According to the study, lung cancer and colon cancer were estimated to be the most common types of cancers as a result of CT scans, while abdomen and pelvis CT scans were the CT scans linked to the greatest number of cancers.
“CT is frequently lifesaving, yet its potential harms are often overlooked, and even very small cancer risks will lead to a significant number of future cancers given the tremendous volume of CT use in the United States,” the study said.
The study based its findings on data collected from “93 million CT scans performed on 62 million people in 2023,” ARS Technica reported. This data helped researchers estimate that CT scans would lead to 103,000 future cancers, which would account for about 5 percent of cancers diagnosed each year making the medical imaging used to diagnose and monitor health conditions have the same risk factors for developing cancer as alcohol consumption and obesity.
While some experts caution against CT scans, many believe the modeling used in this study left much uncertainty.
“The estimates, while based on the best models available to the authors, are indirect, so there is considerable uncertainty about the estimates,” Stephen Duffy, emeritus professor of Cancer Screening at Queen Mary University of London, said in a statement. “Thus, I would say to patients that if you are recommended to have a CT scan, it would be wise to do so.”
Duffy said that with a little more than 100,000 cancers linked to 93 million scans “this amounts to around a 0.1 percent increase in cancer risk over the patient’s lifetime per CT examination.”
“[The] likely benefit in diagnosis and subsequent treatment of disease outweighs the very small increase in cancer risk,” he said.
The study noted that CT scans have increased 35 percent since 2007 and the increase does not align with population growth.
“As with all complex problems, there will be no simple solution,” the study said. “Educating clinicians about avoiding low-value testing and, in circumstances where alternatives are readily available, involving patients in the decision to do a CT scan may help shift culture and practice.”
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