Radiation from CT scans?

[rosettalil]

I have had 2 CT scans in the past year on my chest to rule out blood clots due to being at risk. I'm worried about the radiation risk causing cancer. Does anybody have any stats on this :(?

letmegooglethat.com/?q=radiation+from+ct+scan+

They way they put it to us was that the benefits of the scan in finding a possibly serious condition far outweigh the minimal risk of the scan itself.

Did that make you feel good?

Wasn't helpful anyway unless op is an expert in converting radiation dose to risk 🙄

Op I would have thought they'd have told you if there was any major risk and as a pp said compared to the risk of a blood clot any very small risk is surely outweighed. Try not to worry, I know thats daft to say.

Yes I have no idea what those numbers mean at all.

They said there was a 'small risk' but encouraged me to get it done. But now I'm just stuck thinking about the risk and what damage it's done. :(

The risk is small - there are rules over how much radiation you can be exposed to and the hospital will have considered those before scanning you again.

Everyone I know who has actually had cancer has had a load of CT scans during their treatment, including radioactive PET scans. Clearly these people already have cancer but if the scans were that dangerous I imagine they would be much more limited than they are, or their cancers would simply be encouraged by the testing.

You need to bear in mind that everything in life involves risk. You risk been run over every time you cross a road, but the risk is vanishingly small if you are a sensible person who looks before doing so. Nevertheless if there was an authority in charge of road-crossing they would doubtless have to warn you of the risks.

In your case the risk of having untreated blood clots must be way worse than the risk of any damage from the scans. So in real terms there was not much choice about having the scans. Please don't beat yourself up for having made a wrong decision. You really didn't.

I've had about 30. A cancer diagnosis does that to you.

Me too.
1 MRI ( can’t have anymore as caused severe claustrophobia)
5 PET scans ( then couldn’t cope with these anymore either)
26 CT scans
all over the past 5 years.
Due another CT in a couple of weeks.
There is a risk from all the scans but it is weighed against need.

As the saying goes
No point worrying about smoke in the distance when there is a fire right in front of you.

I had a ct scan a couple of years ago and I was really worried about possible risks, they told me the radiation exposure of one ct scan is about the same as several long flights or living in somewhere like Cornwall for a year or two. My sister has had 6 ct scans in the last 20 months due to a thyroid issue, they told her the exposure was nothing to be concerned about.

From some info given to clinical trial patients: generally the amount of radiation you are exposed to during a CT scan is similar to spending a year in Cornwall (where there is higher exposure to environmental background radiation- they have a lot of radon!). So it's a very, very small risk, this is weighed up against the risk of the reason they are scanning you.

Thank you everyone for your reassuring replies.

@rosettalil As PPs have said, the risk is small and outweighed by the benefits from having the scan. Each request for a scan is reviewed by a qualified health professional to make sure of this; part of the review is to check that they couldn’t get all the information performing a test that doesn’t use radiation. These references may help - and if you have any further scans do ask the Radiographer for further info to put your mind at rest. https://www.sor.org/getmedia/fe08ff92-3313-44ef-8737-6c17c107a9ff/clinical-imaging-board-patient-information-poster-ct-scans.pdf

www.ukhsa-protectionservices.org.uk/cms/assets/gfx/content/resource_5150cs26c0a19597.pdf