Thursday, February 21st, 2008
When is it too much?
Last month there was an article on The Washington Post about overuse of CT scans and its possible affects it would have on patients, especially younger women and children.
In my experience, there is no doubt that CT scans have saved my life 7 yrs ago. From the time I showed symptoms of Hodgkin’s (tiredness, itchy legs, night sweats, chest pains — I know! How can those be considered symptoms of cancer?! But sadly they are truely symptoms of Hodgkin’s) to the time I was diagnosed, was a long 5 month period. Five fat months where the cancer ran rampant and amok within my body, growing from the nodes inside my chest up to the nodes in my neck. And yet, doctor after doctor, copay after copay, test after test, nothing conclusive, but with several misdiagnoses. Isn’t that lovely, not only they don’t know what’s wrong, but they tell you something completely off the wall!
I guess I could say that the x-ray did give the hint (when they finally ordered one!), but really it was the CT scan that really showed it was a mass, a big bad mass. I eventually also got a gallium scan as a diagnostic scan, and a PET scan midway through chemo. I don’t know what doses of radiation these scans gave, but I think it was absolutely worth it for the benefits it provided. After all, the radiation couldn’t have been a small fraction of the two-weeks-long intense frying radiation therapy I received.
However, there comes a point when the scans aren’t necessary in certain situations or for certain people, as the article pointed out. But who determines that, and how does everyone’s interest plays into the final decision?
Are we, the general population, getting more diseases, or do we just have the technology and knowledge of diagnosis, therefore simply are uncovering what would be there anyway?
