The risks associated with CT scans

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.