Imaging tests: Using them wisely

Follow me at @ashishkjha Half a century ago, physicians had few options for diagnostic tests to obtain images of the body. Worried about a brain tumor? A physician might order a pneumo-encephalogram (PEG), which entailed injecting air into the spinal cord and taking x-rays of the head, hoping to spot an abnormality. Tests like these were painful and ineffective, leading physicians to shy away from excessive imaging. The last five decades have seen dramatic progress in technology and innovation, but not without consequences. The upside — and downside — of innovation in imaging In the 1970s, CT scans became available. For the first time, physicians could visualize the living brain without opening the skull. The march of diagnostic innovation continued into the 1980s with the advent of the MRI and into the 1990s with the rise of the PET scanner. By the year 2000, the American physician had a broad set of diagnostic tools with which to visualize and evaluate every body part. These breakthroughs have been lifesaving, allowing us to identify lung cancers while still curable and diagnose appendicitis without having to perform surgery first. Given how easy (and painless) these tests have become, they have become commonplace. But this proliferation comes at a cost. Most obvious is the financial cost, often into the thousands of dollars for each test. But there are clinical costs as well, such as the meaningful amount of radiation exposure patients get with each CT scan. And final...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Health care Radiation Tests and procedures image testing Source Type: news