Ct Scans Research Paper

History of Present Illness: Ms. Noseworthy is a 76-year-old woman who I had seen at the end of July for the evaluation of ILD. She is here today for followup of those results. She has stable cough and shortness of breath. She states that she is exercising on a treadmill on a daily basis and bought an oxygen saturation monitor, which consistently has shown her oxygen levels to be in the low to mid 90's. She denies any chest pain. She has no other complaints today.

Cancer is a genetic, heritable disease in which abnormal cells divide rapidly destroying normal body cells, often being fatal. Cancer can occur in any body tissue; skin, organs, and parts of the reproductive system (Duda). There are various activities linked to different types of cancer, such as smoking, too much sun exposure, gene mutations, carcinogens, and viruses. A major cause of cancer, dating all the way back to the 1950’s, is radiation. Atomic testing ordered by the U.S. Government has been suspected to be the cause of many deaths linked to radiation-related diseases (Williams 149).

Computed tomography (CT) degree programs teach students how to use X-rays, technology and software to gather anatomic information from patients. CAT machines take pictures of a sectional plane of the body and present it as a 3D l image.

"So why get registered? Let 's take for an example of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. They were not fully aware of how much radiation their brain scans were giving off and doctor 's were astonished by what they discovered. "The overdose was discovered when a patient reported lost patches of hair following a CT scan. The error remained unchecked for 18 months, involved more than 200 people, and exacerbated existing concerns that patients nationwide are being exposed to excess radiation during medical testing. Diagnostic imaging tests have increased Americans ' average radiation exposure seven times since 1980. Increased exposure leads to increased cancer risk although they claim that no one suffered any long-term damage from their overexposure at Cedars-Sinai, there’s no guarantee that this is the case. Some of the more than 200 patients affected received twice as much radiation as the average cancer patient would receive in one treatment, and these people did not have cancer cells to eradicate. And it’s already known that increased exposure to radiation increases your cancer risk. In fact, according to John Gofman, MD, PhD, there is strong evidence that 50 percent of the death rate from cancer, and 60 percent of the death rate from ischemic heart disease today are induced by ionizing radiation treatments. The concept of x-ray-induced cases means “cases that would not exist were it not for exposure to x-rays.”

A CT diagnostic scans different types of organs such as the heart, brain, and lungs. Doctors and physicians use this medical instrument in detecting diseases such as, “hemorrhages, tumors, and atrophy,” (Timberlake 171). Meaning, a CT scan helps identify the stages of a disease and how far along it has spread such as cancer. A CT scan works by a patient being placed in the tube of the CT machine. The beams from the x-ray go all around the patients body in “360 degrees,” (ASNR 1). As the beams pass through the body, different tissues absorb different amounts of an x-ray beam. During the x-ray, the tube and detectors are constantly

Computed tomography (CT) is a modern imaging tool that combines X-rays with computer technology to produce a more detailed, cross-sectional image of patient’s body. A CT scan lets the doctor see the size, shape, and position of structures that are deep inside patients’ body such as organs, tissues, or tumors. The doctor need to use CT if the patient has a problem with a small, bony structure or have severe trauma to the brain, spinal cord, chest, abdomen, or pelvis.

X-rays do give out a lot of radiation so when you use a xray you have to use the apron they give you to cover some parts of your body from the radiation because some parts consume a lot more for example a chest x ray with no apron gives you the radiation that staying outside in the sun 10 days gives you which is alot.Anytime you are asked to get an x-ray your body is going to be exposed to ionizing radiation.The rays of an x-ray are considered safe for adults but not for a developing fetus because the amount of radiation being taken in and if you are pregnant or believed to be pregnant tell your doctor he may request for you to do a different screening that does not require radiation such as a MRI. there are good things to a x-ray and they are bad ones. A good reason to get an x-ray is because it can help you get better so the doctor knows how to treat you but there is a slight chance to get cancer every time you get one because the exposure to radiation but its extremely small. The chances of you getting cancer from x-rays are 0.01 percent. The rays in x-rays i say are way more safer than what they were then because all the research is done and the risk of getting cancer

Since the discovery of the mysterious disease; cancer, oncologists and physicians are keen on finding a cure for it or at least minimize the risk of it. Treatment methods have evolve over time. One of the effective yet hazardous methods in treatment lately for cancer is by the use of radiation. Radiation therapy is an ionizing radiation that uses gamma rays in high-energy to shrink and destroy the suffering cells. In specific, it targets these irregular cells and cause harm either to the DNA straight away or by creating free radicals, which in turn damages the DNA of cells and cause them to stop growing and die.

Radiology is a branch of medicine that uses some forms of radiation (such as X-rays or MRI’s) to diagnose and treat diseases (“Radiology”). Radiology has drastically changed the field of medicine especially when MRI was discovered. MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging which is a technique in which radio waves are used to process detailed pictures of your organs and tissues within the body (“MRI”). MRI’s have changed the field of Radiology due to the discovering’s of Raymond Vahan Damadian and made a lasting global impact on the field of medicine in general.

This is my opinion, why don’t the doctors try and study this. Are they trying to keep a secret? Look at how many lives would be saved right

Ionizing radiation that is used in medical imaging releases free radicals. These radicals can interfere with the molecular chemical bonds that is responsible for regulating the cellular function inside the cell. The interaction between free radicals and the molecules inside the cell might lead to genetic mutations in the DNA and it can damage cellular enzymes leading to the proliferation of cancer cells. In the United States, 50% of the environmental exposure to ionizing radiation is mainly attributed to medical imaging. Computed tomography (CT) scans are the main source of X-rays, a form of ionizing radiation. The purpose of this project is to present an overview of the main reasons for exposure, explaining the possible future effects of ionizing radiation on human health, enlightening the imaging modalities with ionizing radiation, addressing the population at risk, and explaining the main principles and recommendations to avoid and limit the exposure to ionizing radiation.

Being able to save lives are important matters around the world. The ability of medical imaging is proven to increase patient's survival and a healthy life. Throughout this research there are numerous important facts of each imaging technologies. In contrast, patients need these technologies to help reduce death rates. Moreover, medical imaging will continue to improve and be able to help adults and children in the long run.

Since the technologies being used only bounce waves of the body surface, this leaves then skin highly exposed to concentrated amounts of radiation. Health side effect studies of full body scanners have been labeled classified and inaccessible to the general public. Four professors from the University of California- San Francisco, whom are well respected cancer, X-ray crystallographers and imaging experts stated in a letter to the Obama administration that, “The low-energy rays do a “Compton scatter” off tissue layers just under the skin, possibly exposing some vital areas and leaving the tissues at risk of mutation. When an X-ray Compton scatters, it doesn’t shift an electron to a higher energy level; instead, it hits the electron hard enough to dislodge it from its atom.” The authors note that this process is “likely breaking bonds,” which could cause mutations in cells and raise the risk of cancer (Johnston). Furthermore, the UCSF researchers write in their letter, “older passengers are more susceptible to mutagenic effects of X-rays, and “the risk of

In 2007, it is predicted that almost 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States (Pickle et al., 2007). More than half of these cancer patients will undergo the use of radiation as a means for treating cancer at some point during the course of their disease (Perez and Brady, 1998). Cancer, a disease caused by an uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells, affects millions of people around the world. Radiotherapy is one of the well known various methods used to treat cancer, where high powered rays are aimed directly at the tumor from the outside of the body as external radiation or an instrument is surgically placed inside the body producing a result of internal radiation. Radiation is delivered to the cancerous regions of the body to damage and destroy the cells in that area, terminating the rapid growth and division of the cells. Radiation therapy has been used by medicine as a treatment for cancer from the beginning of the twentieth century, with its earliest beginnings coming from the discovery of x-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen. With the advancements in physics and computer programming, radiation had greatly evolved towards the end of the twentieth century and made the radiation treatment more effective. Radiation therapy is a curative treatment approach for cancer because it is successful in killing cancerous tumor cells and stop them from regenerating.

About 15% of the ionizing radiation exposure to the people comes from man-made sources and almost all of these exposures are due to medical radiation, which is vastly from diagnostic and therapeutic sources(9). Out of 3 mSv annual global per caput effective dose (2000), 2.4 mSv is from natural background and 0.4 mSv from diagnostic medical exams(5,9). and since then many new therapeutic and diagnostic methods have been implemented making the exposure dose due to medical radiation to go up. The problem with this increase is that elevated risk of radiation-related cancers such as of the thyroid, salivary gland, central nervous system, skin, and breast as well as leukemia.(1,6) because of these observed risks the use