![]() For example, patients with previous hyperthyroidism or Graves disease were excluded from the thyroid cancer group because of the prevalence of radiation-based treatments for those conditions. We also excluded individuals with any treatment related to a high dose of radiation exposure ( n = 3084), those who received cancer treatment before cohort entry, and those with underlying conditions associated with each cancer ( n = 5336). We excluded patients who were aged 25 years or younger because of their unique features in pathogenesis ( 18). Individuals were excluded if they were aged 25 years or younger at the time of the cancer diagnosis, had less than 3 years of follow-up before cancer diagnosis, or had a history of a cancer before the year 2000 ( n = 15191). Data from the single-payer compulsory NHI program provide demographic and medical information on disease diagnoses, procedures, drug prescriptions, and enrollment profiles of all beneficiaries ( 17). ![]() Herein, we assessed the risks of thyroid cancer, leukemia, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), because they involve some of the most radiosensitive tissues with a marked increased in incidence ( 15, 16).Ī population-based nested case-control study was conducted within a cohort of National Health Insurance (NHI) beneficiaries during the period 2000–2013, with 25.7 million people representing more than 99% of the population in Taiwan. We conducted a population-based study and examined the association between exposure to medical radiation from CT scans and the risk of cancers in adults. However, studies estimating the effect of exposure to low-level ionizing radiation from medical procedures in adults are limited. Studies demonstrated the risk of leukemia and brain tumors following pediatric CTs ( 13, 14). A few occupational studies demonstrated the risk in radiation workers in the nuclear industry who were exposed to an average dose of approximately 20 mSv, which is a dose equivalent to one or two CT scans ( 12). Although the cancer risk for an individual is small, the increased numbers of people undergoing CT scans have become a public health issue.Ĭurrent evidence of estimating cancer risk induced by low-dose radiation is mostly derived from atomic bomb survivors. Those survivors demonstrated a small but statistically significantly increased risk of several types of cancers ( 9–11). The dose from a CT scan is not much less than the subgroup of atomic bomb survivors who received low doses of radiation ranging 5–20 mSv ( 8). The effective dose from a diagnostic CT scan typically ranges around 1–15 millisieverts (mSv) during a single procedure. Radiation doses from CT scans vary by a number of factors. From 1997 through 2007, CT scans and nuclear medicine procedures became the largest source of exposure to ionizing radiation and accounted for 24% of the exposure in the US population ( 1, 6, 7). CT scans expose patients to ionizing radiation, a known human carcinogen. However, overuse of CT scans and the potential patient harm have raised concerns ( 5). Diagnostic images allow for earlier and more accurate disease diagnoses therefore, a rapid increase in the use of CT scans has been observed over the last 2 decades ( 2–4). Computed tomography (CT) scans use ionizing radiation to create detailed cross-sectional images of the body ( 1).
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