April 24, 2023
Children who get four or more computerized tomography (CT) scans before the age of 18 face more than double the risk of cancer compared to those who don’t receive this imaging, a new study has found.
The study out of Taiwan, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), found children who undergo a single CT scan are not at an increased risk of developing brain tumours, leukemia, or lymphoma. However, the study found that exposure to multiple scans significantly increases a child’s risk of developing these types of cancers.
“The associated risk of cancer we observed was highest among children who had received four or more CT scans at or before six years of age, followed by those aged seven to 12 years and adolescents aged 13–18 years, suggesting that younger children are more vulnerable to radiation than older children,” the researchers stated in the study.
Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/9641683/ct-scan-cancer-risk-child-study/