This seems like great news! Though I did see this elsewhere:
This seems like great news! Though I did see this elsewhere:
One slight problem with this is the implied presumption that since CT scans are not surgically invasive, they have no side effects. The detection of tumours, in soft tissue, by CT involves the injection of a “contrast enhancing” chemical into the blood stream. [I know someone who] had two CT scans, and [their] body has now become allergically sensitised to the chemical - meaning that a third scan had to be cancelled.
The more that CT scans are used as “routine”, the more people are going to have problems with repeat scans.
I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be used - because, as the article says, it is a really useful way to spot tumours at an early stage. I’m just saying that [there's] rarely a win without any form of caveat.
Also, people get exposed to a small amount of radiation. For each individual person it's not a concern, but across a population we'd expect to see a small increase in cancer. Screening programmes...
Also, people get exposed to a small amount of radiation.
For each individual person it's not a concern, but across a population we'd expect to see a small increase in cancer. Screening programmes balance that small increase against the benefits of screening.
The only mildly concerning thing about this report is use of 5 year survival rates as a metric, instead of all cause mortality.
Thousands of lives could be saved if people at risk of developing Britain’s deadliest cancer were screened to diagnose it before it becomes incurable, a major NHS study has found.
Giving smokers and ex-smokers a CT scan uncovers cancerous lung tumours when they are at an early enough stage so they can still be removed, rather than continuing to grow unnoticed, it shows.
Experts are demanding the government moves to bring in routine CT scanning of smokers and ex-smokers in order to cut the huge death toll from lung cancer. About 48,000 people a year are diagnosed with the disease in the UK and 35,100 die from it – 96 a day.
[...]
Janes and his team found 180 cases of lung cancer among 12,100 smokers and ex-smokers aged 55-78 in north central and north-east London, many of whom were from poorer backgrounds. They volunteered to undergo what he called a “lung health MOT” when they received an invitation letter from their GP. Of those, 70% were uncovered when they were still at stage one or two.
This seems like great news! Though I did see this elsewhere:
Also, people get exposed to a small amount of radiation.
For each individual person it's not a concern, but across a population we'd expect to see a small increase in cancer. Screening programmes balance that small increase against the benefits of screening.
The only mildly concerning thing about this report is use of 5 year survival rates as a metric, instead of all cause mortality.
From the article:
[...]