Tomography scans in children may trigger blood cancer

[First compiled by New Sancai] A large multinational study has found that CT (tomography scan) is significantly associated with an increased risk of blood cancer in young people.

An analysis of data from nearly 1 million people under the age of 22 who had at least one CT scan found a strong and clear link between scan radiation exposure and blood cancers, according to findings published Nov. 9 in the journal Nature Medicine. .

Researchers revealed that a cumulative radiation dose of 100 milliGray in the bone marrow tripled the risk of blood cancer.

According to the conclusion, a single CT scan (with an average dose of 8 mg) appears to increase a child's risk of blood cancer by about 16%.

Lead researcher Magda Bosch de Basea said: "In terms of absolute risk, this means that for every 10,000 children who have a CT scan, about 1-2 would be expected to be found over 12 years. cancer case." She conducted the research while working as a postdoctoral fellow at ISGlobal (Institute for Global Health) in Barcelona, Spain.

In the study, researchers from nine European countries, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, pooled resources to explore the risks of CT scans in children.

The widespread use of CT scans in recent decades has raised concerns about potential cancer risks associated with radiation exposure, particularly in younger patients, the researchers said in a background note.

According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 5 to 9 million CT scans are performed on children in the United States each year. More than 1 million children in Europe undergo CT scans each year, the researchers said in an ISGlobal press release.

The National Cancer Institute states on its website: "Although CT scans account for about 12 percent of diagnostic radiology procedures in large hospitals in the United States, they are estimated to account for approximately 49 percent of the collective radiation dose from all medical X-rays to the U.S. population." "CT is the largest contributor to medical radiation exposure in the United States."

Children have a much lower tolerance for radiation than adults and are more likely to experience adverse health effects of radiation damage after being scanned at a young age. If doctors do not adjust CT settings to accommodate smaller bodies, they may be exposed to higher than necessary radiation. dosage.

Elisabeth Cardis, head of ISGlobal's radiology group, said: "Although the radiation dose of CT scans is relatively lower than other radiation medical devices, it is still one of the higher radiation exposures among diagnostic procedures."

"Conducting this large multinational study was challenging - it involved obtaining data from radiology records from 276 hospitals and concatenating it with population registers in nine countries, while also maintaining the confidentiality of individual data." Caddis added.

The researchers tracked individuals' health for nearly eight years on average, but they were able to monitor cancer rates for more than 20 years after some people received their first CT scan.

Although radiation doses from CT scans have fallen significantly in recent years, the researchers said the findings underscore the need for caution when using CT scans in young patients.

"The procedure must be properly justified, possible alternatives considered, and improved to ensure that dose is kept to a minimum while maintaining good diagnostic image quality," Kadis said.

(Compiled by: Li Mengzhen)

(Editor: Jiang Qiming)

(Source of the article: First published by Xinsancai)