CT Body Scan

CT Body scan is a screening tool available for those who want to have a check up or if they're curious to see if something abnormal is going on inside. For example, a heart scan can show how much calcium could be built up in the arteries that supply the heart.

As with any test that screens for disease, the risks of CT body scanning needs to be outweighed by the benefit of identifying a treatable disease at an early stage. One of the risks of CT screening is the relatively high doses of radiation. Conventional CT scanners may expose patients to 10 mSv of radiation, or over a hundred times that of a chest x-ray.

However, the radiation risk of CT scanners used for screening may be less than this, and depends upon the mathematical model used for calculation.

Additional risks include the possible identification of incidental abnormalities of unclear significance. This may lead to further unnecessary testing, which may be invasive.

However, Body CT scans as check-ups to screen for possible disease could catch early signs before they become too advanced.

CT scanning is very important in diagnosing disease, but the need for a CT scan should be based on a consultation with a physician and any risk factors you have.

CT body screening is marketed as a preventive health care measure to healthy individuals who have no symptoms or suspicion of disease. At this time the FDA knows of no data demonstrating that whole-body CT screening is effective in detecting any particular disease early enough for the disease to be managed, treated, or cured and advantageously spare a person at least some of the detriment associated with serious illness or premature death. Any such presumed benefit of whole-body CT screening is currently uncertain, and such benefit may not be great enough to offset the potential harms such screening could cause.