The Truth About Whole-Body Scans

Take a drive round sure neighborhoods in Los Angeles and it’s possible you’ll spot as many indicators promoting physique scans as burger joints. Or possibly you’ve got seen the adverts on TV or the web: “Protect your well being! Get a physique scan now!” 

Are whole-body CT scans actually ready to try this – and what are the dangers? And are DEXA scans a great way to examine in your physique composition?

Scans for Health Checks

While applied sciences differ, most of those high-tech checkups use computed tomography (CT) scans to look at your whole physique or particular components, such because the coronary heart and lungs, to attempt to catch harmful illnesses in earlier, extra curable levels.

During the 15- or 20-minute scan, you lie inside a doughnut-shaped machine as an imaging gadget rotates round you, transmitting radiation. The method combines a number of X-ray photographs and, with the help of a pc, produces cross-sectional views of your physique. By inspecting the views, a health care provider can search for early indicators of abnormalities.

The scans aren’t low-cost – whole-body scans run wherever 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 bodily examination. But for those who’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 University Medical Center in Durham, NC, who can also be a spokesman for the American College of Radiology (ACR).

According to the ACR’s official place, there’s not sufficient proof to advocate scans for these with no signs or household historical past suggesting illness. But Van Moore sees a doable exception. “There could also be a profit to individuals at excessive threat of lung cancers, comparable to present people who smoke or these with a protracted historical past of smoking,” he says. 

For wholesome individuals, the scans could 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 typically, the radiation publicity may very well enhance the variety of most cancers circumstances over the long run, in accordance with a 2004 report within the journal Radiology.

The American College of Preventive Medicine says that whole-body scans “aren’t very good at finding cancer in people without symptoms” and that the radiation you get from these scans can enhance your threat of most cancers.

Who Needs a High-Tech Checkup?

Before scheduling a physique scan, speak to your physician about your total well being dangers and the way a scan could or could not provide help to. In specific, ask your self:

• What’s your historical past? Do you may have a private or household historical past of lung illness, coronary heart illness, or particular cancers?
• Did you inhale? Are you a longtime smoker?
• If so, how lengthy? Even for those who’ve stop smoking, for what number of years have been you an lively smoker?

 

What if You’re Getting a Scan to Check Your Body Fat?

This is a unique kind of scan, referred to as DEXA (twin vitality X-ray absorptiometry). You might need heard of DEXA scans to examine on bone density to see you probably have osteoporosis or osteopenia. It makes use of low-level X-rays to examine in your physique composition, like how a lot physique fats you may have and the place it’s in your physique. 

There are numerous methods to measure your physique fats. Experts have instructed WebMD prior to now that DEXA scanning is a “very good technique” and “one of the most accurate methods out there.” And researchers have referred to as it the “gold standard” for checking on physique composition – particularly, for bone, fats, and muscle. But it’s not coated by insurance coverage, until you’re getting a DEXA scan to display for bone density. The price of a DEXA scan varies, beginning round $75 in some circumstances.