The ads read something like this: Visit your local Preventive Health Radiologist Specialists who can add years to your life by offering you a Total-Body CT Scan for only $1,000—an insignificant amount when you consider your valuable health.

Radiation Exposure
A total body scan gives you about 1500 millirems of radiation, which is about the same as 150 chest x-rays. And that is just the beginning of your cancer-causing over-exposure to radiation. These scans often find some benign polyp or scar tissue in your lung, kidney or liver that will necessitate more radiological studies—at three-month intervals—just to check that there is no further growth. This assures that whatever was found is harmless.

These additional tests—which are recommended to more than 30 percent of patients—rarely find an undiagnosed condition, yet they expose a significant number of people to further unnecessary radiation exposure. Furthermore, inconclusive results create a great deal of anxiety for patients and their families as they wait for the test results.

Almost 90 percent of non-smokers die of heart attacks, strokes, colon cancer, and prostate cancer. A total body scan is not the most effective method of determining risk or detecting any of these diseases. Traditional methods of detection, such as blood tests and colonoscopies, are more effective and they do not expose you to a hefty dose of cancer-promoting radiation. Moreover, it is not a legitimate screening tool for the breast, and the radiation will increase a woman’s risk of developing an unusual type of cancer (including breast) down the road. The mammograms most women already get increase their risk of developing radiation-induced breast cancer, so adding another 1500 millirems is a really bad idea.

Avoid this high-radiation medical intervention and allow your physician to direct any tests you need based on established protocols, medical history, and periodic blood tests.