This week, I highlight a recent article in the Lancet on CT scans and
subsequent risk of cancer. This retrospective cohort study used the
UK’s NHS database and parsed out patients getting a
CT and
estimated radiation dosages based on when they obtained the CT. The data showed
a positive correlation between radiation exposure and risk of subsequent
cancer.
The relative risk between low-dose and high-dose was 3.18 for leukemia
and 2.8 for brain tumors, while absolute risk is about one excess case of leukemia and brain tumor
may result per 10,000 CT scans.
I bring this up not
because we don’t already suspect that more CT leads to higher malignancy risk but
because it made a lot of major news outlets. Depending on
how parents interpret the findings, they may be more likely to hesitate and it’s important to know where
they’re coming from and highlights the usefulness of using our head trauma
decision tool.
It's also a nice example of
interpreting absolute and relative risks in uncommon events. As
an example, here are two headlines from Fox News about the same article, posted 20 hours
apart.
“Childhood CT scans can triple the risk of
brain cancer”!!! (exclamation points are my addition)
Link to Abstract
No comments:
Post a Comment
What's your opinion?