Fumiko Ladd Chino, Radiation Oncologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, shared a post on X:
“93 M computed tomography (CT) scans are performed on 62 M pts in the United States annually.
This modeling study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that ~100k future cancers could result from CT use in the US in 2023. This will eventually account for 5% of all new cancer dx annually.”
Nina Niu Sanford, Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, shared Fumiko Ladd Chino‘s post, adding:
“I definitely support the judicious use of CT imaging, but also think there are some limitations of this study worth considering.
The estimates are from BEIR VII which assumes a linear no threshold model – i.e. no threshold below which radiogenic cancer risk is negligible. In reality, probably for most people getting a limited of scans, the increased cancer risk is close to 0, while for a much smaller subset getting many scans over a lifetime, the risk may be higher. So, putting out a number that treats any and all radiation exposure as “equal” may be misleading.
Second, BEIR VII largely based upon data from survivors of atomic bombs in WWII – debatable how accurately this should be extrapolated to Western populations in 2025.
Curious thoughts from others, radiobiologists, etc.”