Take a drive round sure neighborhoods in Los Angeles and you could spot as many indicators promoting physique scans as burger joints. Or possibly you have seen the adverts on TV or the web: “Shield your well being! Get a physique scan now!”
Are whole-body CT scans actually in a position to try this – and what are the dangers? And are DEXA scans a great way to verify in your physique composition?
Scans for Well being Checks
Whereas applied sciences range, most of those high-tech checkups use computed tomography (CT) scans to look at your total physique or particular elements, such because the heart and lungs, to attempt to catch harmful ailments in earlier, extra curable levels.
Through the 15- or 20-minute scan, you lie inside a doughnut-shaped machine as an imaging system rotates round you, transmitting radiation. The approach combines a number of X-ray photographs and, with assistance from a pc, produces cross-sectional views of your physique. By inspecting the views, a physician can search for early indicators of abnormalities.
The scans aren’t low cost – whole-body scans run anyplace from $500 to $1,000 per scan and often aren’t reimbursed by insurance coverage. And the query of how useful these scans actually are is a matter of debate amongst medical consultants.
Advocates promote scans as a wise a part of a routine physical exam. However if you happen to’re wholesome, with no worrisome signs, a scan is often not warranted, says Arl Van Moore, MD, a radiologist and medical assistant professor of radiology at Duke College Medical Middle in Durham, NC, who can also be a spokesman for the American Faculty of Radiology (ACR).
In keeping with the ACR’s official place, there’s not sufficient proof to advocate scans for these with no signs or household historical past suggesting illness. However Van Moore sees a potential exception. “There could also be a profit to individuals at excessive threat of lung cancers, corresponding to present people who smoke or these with an extended historical past of smoking,” he says.
For wholesome individuals, the scans might trigger undue fear – for example, by discovering one thing that seems to be benign. Plus, the quantity of radiation publicity, particularly with frequent scans, is one other concern. If scans are completed too usually, the radiation publicity may very well improve the variety of cancer circumstances over the long run, in keeping with a 2004 report within the journal Radiology.
The American Faculty of Preventive Drugs says that whole-body scans “aren’t excellent at discovering most cancers in individuals with out signs” and that the radiation you get from these scans can improve your threat of most cancers.
Who Wants a Excessive-Tech Checkup?
Earlier than scheduling a physique scan, speak to your physician about your general well being dangers and the way a scan might or might not show you how to. Specifically, ask your self:
- What’s your historical past? Do you’ve gotten a private or household historical past of lung disease, coronary heart illness, or particular cancers?
- Did you inhale? Are you a longtime smoker?
- In that case, how lengthy? Even if you happen to’ve quit smoking, for what number of years had been you an energetic smoker?
What if You’re Getting a Scan to Examine Your Physique Fats?
This can be a totally different kind of scan, known as DEXA (twin vitality X-ray absorptiometry). You might need heard of DEXA scans to verify on bone density to see when you have osteoporosis or osteopenia. It makes use of low-level X-rays to verify in your physique composition, like how a lot physique fats you’ve gotten and the place it’s in your physique.
There are numerous methods to measure your physique fats. Experts have told WebMD up to now that DEXA scanning is a “excellent approach” and “probably the most correct strategies on the market.” And researchers have known as it the “gold normal” for checking on physique composition – particularly, for bone, fats, and muscle. Nevertheless it’s not coated by insurance coverage, except you’re getting a DEXA scan to display screen for bone density. The price of a DEXA scan varies, beginning round $75 in some circumstances.
