U.S. study weighs lifetime risks from CT scans

As many as 7% of patients from a large U.S. hospital system had enough radiation exposure from CT scans during their lifetime to slightly raise their risk of cancer, U.S. researchers said. The finding is part of an effort to develop tools that help doctors assess a patient's overall cancer risk from exposure to computed tomography, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston told a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. The study's authors hope to develop a computer alert that informs a doctor of a patient's individual cancer risk based on his or her history of CT scans. The alert would pop up when the doctor enters an order for a CT scan.