T scans are quick, painless, non-invasive tests that can identify everything from brain tumors to injuries from an accident.

Now a new study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine shows a link between the radiation exposure from the imaging tool and cancer.

The research projects that the 93 million CT scans performed in 2023 would result in

nearly 103,000 future cancer cases. Ali Rogan spoke to Dr. Rebecca Smith Bindman. She's a professor

at the University of California, San Francisco, and the study's lead author. Dr Smith-Bindman, thank you so much for joining us.

First of all, many of us are familiar with CT scans, but let's just establish first.

What are they used for?

And how do they work?

So computer tomography scans are really an essential and frequently used tool in modern medicine. And basically,

they're obtaining x-rays in a very detailed way around your body to get detailed information

about all different organs. And they're used across almost every area of diagnosis,

be it for cancer or trauma or chronic diseases.

It's really a very important test.

And with that said, what did your study find?

Well, I started by saying CT scanning is really important, but the use of CT scanning continues to rise,

and particularly for scans that really don't have

clear clinical justification. And one of the risks for CT scanning is that it exposes patients

to ionizing radiation, and that's known to increase the risk of cancer. So our study aimed to quantify

how many future cancers could result from CT scans used in

2023. So we basically used accurate information about who's getting scans, what kind of scans,

what the doses are for those scans. That's a really important part of the cancer projections.

And we estimate that CTs performed in 2023 will result in approximately

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