UK probes benefits of body scans

The Department of Health has asked the Committee on the Medical Aspects of Radiation to assess the subject.

An increasing number of healthy people are using CT scans, which give an inside-out view of the body, as a way of detecting early signs of disease.

However, some CT scans emit radiation beyond normal X-ray levels.

CT scanning refers to a procedure that is also known as computerised or computed tomography, whereby a three-dimensional view of the body is constructed from a series of cross-sectional x-ray images.

Fear factor

A Department of Health (DoH) spokeswoman said that the government asked the committee "to look at the benefits and risks of using CT scanning in preventative healthcare".

"DoH regulates medical exposures to ionising radiation, such as x-rays or CT scans, to ensure that the long-term benefits to the individual outweigh possible risks associated with radiation," she explained.

The subject of body scanning in order to find early signs of disease has divided medical opinion, with some doctors saying it saves lives and others saying it is an expensive waste of money.

Despite the controversy, more and more people are turning to health screening and body scanning as a way of checking up on their bodies, in the hope of catching illnesses such as cancer in the early stages.

Health company Bupa, one of a number of firms that offers the tests, says it expects demand to keep increasing.

In a report last year, the British Medical Association warned that scans could cause unnecessary anxiety.

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