"We can spare patients from the cost and excessive radiation from follow-up CT scans, " Hudis said.
However, people who have the CT scans often end up needing the angiogram anyway.
But imagine a different system, one in which people bought CT scans the way they bought HDTVs.
First of all, there is a provider charge and a technical fee for x-rays, CT scans, etc.
In the U.S., use of CT scans quadrupled to 85.3 million in 2011 since the early 1990s.
Many patients getting lots of CT scans are old and have terminal diseases such as advanced cancer.
Americans often pay several times more for MRIs and CT scans than people pay in other countries.
Doctors could see what they're dissecting using heads-up displays that overlay CT scans onto the organ in question.
The CT scans, like the cardiac catheterization, utilize IV dye and can potentially damage the kidneys as well.
Today, radiologists in Connecticut review CT scans of patients in third world countries.
Liver enzyme tests are sometimes normal, and even ultrasounds and CT scans don't always pick up on the disease.
He seemed to have developed an infection, but our X-rays and CT scans failed to turn up a source.
They used CT scans and photographs of the skull, combined with a specialist computer programme, to reconstruct the king's face.
The most worrisome issue, Hall says, is whether the millions of CT scans done on children are all really necessary.
For some people, imaging studies, such as CT scans, done for another reason, may catch a pheochromocytoma before it produces symptoms.
Investigators in Washington have taken X-rays and CT scans of the lithium-ion battery that caught fire in Boston, the safety board said.
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In the late 1980s computer-aided techniques used data from CT scans to mold the radiation beams to the shape of the prostate.
The American College of Radiology blasted the Columbia University study, arguing that links between CT scans and cancer have never been proved.
So, it's no wonder CT scans of the heart have become popular.
Despite its relatively large size and its incongruous presence in the CT scans, only four of the 24 radiologists noticed the gorilla.
Meanwhile, Medicare has covered the CT scans since 2006, and the tests are in widespread use, even though their usefulness for patients is unclear.
But it isn't clear whether the risk is the same from cumulative exposure in smaller doses, such as multiple CT scans each delivering 10 mSvs.
The final study looked at whether patients with a particular form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma should have regular CT scans to detect relapses after they finish treatment.
They also discovered that only two hospitals in the country gave CT scans to patients being considered for curative treatment within the recommended time of two weeks.
The study used insurance claims data and couldn't tell when patients got CT scans of multiple parts of the body at the same time, a common occurrence.
It beams the ear's geometry into a computer, without the mess of a traditional mold or the radiation if CT scans were used to measure ear anatomy.
In fact, on Monday the American Heart Association issued an advisory warning that imaging tests, including CT scans, be used cautiously to minimize exposure to radiation.
Since 2004, the National Cancer Institute has been conducting trials to see if CT scans (and standard chest X-rays) can reduce mortality in smokers by detecting lung cancer early.
"Something like 2% of cancers down the road will come from CT scans now, " says Columbia University radiation biologist Eric Hall, who was not involved in the current study.
Verghese first complaint is that being overly dependent on machines leads patients to get too much radiation from CT scans and also leads physicians to miss things they should have notice.
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