CT scans can emit radiation doses equivalent to 1,000 to 2,000 chest X-rays, more or less, depending on the size of the scanned body section. This is about seven years of natural sourced exposure for humans. And it is the use of this level of radiation that concerns some researchers and physicians.

DNA, anyone?

You knew we had to address this issue. Radiation has long been known as a carcinogenic force, but how does it do it? Because of radiation’s unstable nature and its ability to penetrate the human body, radiation can cause “free radicals.” These are unstable cells that rob healthy ones of a component, thus making unstable, unhealthy cells out of them.

These cells don’t act as normal cells because their DNA, the blueprint of the cell and its functions, is damaged. These cells don’t die off as normal cells would, and they can invade other tissues, something healthy cells cannot do. Because they don’t die off, masses of these DNA-damaged cells may accumulate as cancerous tumors.

The Controversy

This is where the “he said, she said” part comes in because there haven’t been enough studies on the effects of powerful X-rays on the human body. And because of that, you have two sides to the medical saga of radiation usage.

In a 2005 report, the National Academy of Sciences stated that there wasn’t a radiation threshold, below of which could be deemed harmless. In other words, no radiation is good radiation. But because that is impossible in these days of modern medical science and shrinking ozone layers, the few studies that exist show a low risk, but a risk, of radiation-induced cancers.

To illustrate, a CT scan of a chest is equal to up to 2,000 chest X-rays in radiation exposure numbers, depending on area size. An abdominal scan, a smaller area, could equal 500 chest X-rays.