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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]CT scans are not radio waves - they are X-rays on steroids. [/quote]

+1 
I would never get one just for the hell of it. [/quote]

One CT scan is like a thousand chest x-rays.

Wifi 'radiation' is not ionizing like x-rays, so probably benign.  I'm sure some health effect will come to life but we live with car accidents and other perils of modern life. [/quote]

A singe CT scan does not equal 1000 x-rays.

A chest X-Ray is about 0.1 mSv for the average sized adult.
A CT (depending on the body part examined, and the number of phases, girth of patient, etc.) is on the order of 5 to 20 mSv.
With low dose techniques and iterative reconstruction, there are some scanners than can get down to 2-3 mSv.

I have seen 30-40 cases of someone getting scanned due other reasons ( pre-transplant donor, car accident, fall, gun shot wound) and incidentally their early stage renal cancer or ovarian cancer was detected. Those people were very lucky. That kind of thing can happen, but is it likely that an otherwise healthy person undergoing a scan is going to have that outcome? No. If you are a non-smoker, young ( 40 and under) , healthy weight, don't eat a lot of red meat, don't have family history of malignancy and exercise regularly the chances that there would be something actionable on your scan would be low, so why take the risk. But if you have a strong family history, smoked a while, are older, etc then perhaps the risks outweigh the benefits. It's all about statistics and probability. Just have a discussion with your primary care physician. They will let you know what your risks are.

On another note, I find the other persons story about someone having a thoracotomy and surgical biopsy on something found on a VQ scan HIGHLY suspect. I am sure they had a pre op CT or maybe even PET CT. Surgeons now a days don't like to operate without taking a look at the anatomy and planning their approach. Your friend may be mistaken. People are not always reliable with their own medical history.

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