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A new medical challenge raises concern due to Covid-19 tests!

Amman Today

publish date 2021-08-18 16:40:10

The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unparalleled challenge to scientists and clinicians, and multiple new complexities are unfolding every day in providing optimal care to patients, especially those with cancer. Despite extensive planning, the rapidly evolving and uncertain environment has left patients and healthcare workers in limbo, reports Boldsky, a health website.

With the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, there has been increasing interest in the role and suitability of chest radiography (CXR) and computed tomography (CT) scans for the screening, diagnosis and treatment of patients with suspected or known COVID-19 infection. The advantage of relying on CXR and CT imaging is its ability to detect patients with highly suspected novel coronavirus infection and/or pneumonia patients.

But the International Atomic Energy Commission has shown how computed tomography at a young age increases the risk of cancer later in life. A CT scan equals 300-400 chest x-rays and it is common for patients with mild cases of COVID-19 infection to repeat CT scans every three days, while it is highly not recommended for one to be exposed to such harmful radiation.

disturbing levels
However, due to the relative scarcity of test kits, many health centers have chosen CT scan as the primary option for screening and identifying COVID-19 based on CT-based scoring systems. Over a period of time, screenings have been largely recommended without much consideration of their long-term consequences such as adverse effects from radiation and related cancers, both in patients and healthcare workers. At one point, its use reached alarming levels, sparking a great deal of controversy among academics, clinicians, and researchers.

ionizing radiation
The radiation, in general, to which a patient’s body is exposed from X-rays, CT scans and nuclear imaging is ionizing radiation – high-energy wavelengths penetrate tissue molecules or particles to reveal the body’s internal organs and structures. Chances are that this ionizing radiation could damage DNA. Although the cells in the human body repair most of the damage caused by the radiation from these scans, they sometimes do the job incompletely, leaving small areas of “damage”.

DNA mutations
The result is DNA mutations that may contribute to cancer years later. Most of what experts know about the dangers of ionizing radiation comes from long-term studies of people who survived the 1945 atomic bomb explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These studies show a slight but significant increase in cancer risk in those exposed to the blasts, including a group of 25,000 Hiroshima survivors who received less than 50 mSv of radiation — an amount a patient would be exposed to in three or more operations. Computed tomography.

In general, actual exposure to radiation depends on many factors, including the radiology device itself, the duration of the examination, the patient’s body size, and the sensitivity of the target tissues. A chest CT scan gives the amount in 100 to 200 X-ray images.

Low odds but
Within a year, the average person gets about 3 mSv and each CT scan delivers 1 to 10 mSv, depending on the dose of radiation and the part of the body being tested. A low-dose chest CT scan is about 1.5 mSv and the same test at a normal dose is about 7 mSv. The odds can be considered very low — the chance of a fatal cancer for anyone who gets a CT scan is about 1 in 2,000.

However, if the patient has no choice and has to undergo multiple examinations in a short period, in this case he should see the specialist doctor and ask for his suggestion to consider a lower dose scan (especially, that the procedure is highly recommended in cases of cancer patients with a history of scans conducted recently).

Important Tips
In order to keep the body and its organs healthy and free from dangers, everyone should do the following:

Write down the date and type of examination he underwent
• Discuss knowledge of any high-dose diagnostic imaging with your physician.
• Trace the history of x-rays.
• Consider a low-dose radiological test
• Consider less frequent testing.
• Avoid being diagnosed with any surveys, by preventing the foundation and adhering to all precautionary measures.

Source: Arabic

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