CT radiation could cause 5% of cancers, study warns

Library image. Credit: Getty/Morsa Images

By Olivia Bowthorpe

A US study has estimated that current rates of computed tomography imaging could eventually account for 5% of all new cancer diagnoses annually, based on current patterns and radiation doses.

Approximately 103,000 future cancers are expected among the 61.5 million people who underwent computed tomography (CT) examinations in 2023, Dr Rebecca Smith-Bindman, professor of epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues stated in JAMA Internal Medicine.¹