VOMIT victim of medical investigative technology

doi:10.1136/bmj.39435.572731.3A

BMJ 2008;336:8 (5 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39435.572731.3A

Letters

Commercial CT scans

VOMIT—victim of medical investigative technology

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Kmietowicz did not go far enough in highlighting the consumeristnature of commercial body CT scanning.¹ Well, asymptomatic youngand middle aged patients have a low pretest probability andwouldn’t benefit from a screening test. Furthermore, non-symptomled, non-focused investigations are rife for misinterpretationand error.² The initial scanning centres in the United Statestargeted educated, affluent, health conscious neighbourhoodswhere there was a preoccupation with wellness and immortalityand advertisers fed into these insecurities.³ This reflectsthe ethos of big corporations’ intent on making profitsrather than promoting health. We would do well to heed the lessonfrom America where there has been a decline in the number ofpatient funded scans following dissuasion from professionalsocieties.

Leaving aside the issue of stochastic effect of the radiation,there is the issue of administering contrast—a doubleedged sword in scanning terms.⁴ Without contrast—the mostcommon scenario in CT screening—the merit . . . [Full text of this article]

U Shaikh, radiology specialist registrar¹, Huw Lewis-Jones¹

¹ University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool L9 7AL

usmansh8kh@hotmail.com