NYTimes.com: Two cases involving CT scans are under scrutiny in California—one involving a large, well-known Los Angeles hospital, the other a tiny hospital in the northern part of the state—underscoring the risks that powerful CT scans pose when used incorrectly.
Raven Knickerbocker, then an X-ray technologist at Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata, activated a CT scan 151 times on the same area of the head of 2 ½-year-old Jacoby Roth, investigators concluded.
A week ago, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles disclosed that it had mistakenly administered up to eight times the normal radiation dose to 206 possible stroke victims over an 18-month period during a procedure intended to get clearer images of the brain.
Although CT scans are useful in determining internal injuries, there are major risks associated to patients because of the intensity of the X-rays used in the device, either through human error, or through too frequent exposure to X-rays.
In 2000-2001, CT scans constituted 7% of all radiologic examinations, but contributed 47% of the total collective dose from medical X-ray examinations.
Leave a comment