WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new study by researchers at UC San Francisco and UC Davis has found that radiation from medical imaging may increase the risk of blood cancers in children.
The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, looked at data from nearly 4 million children and estimated that one in ten blood cancers, or about 3,000 cases, could be linked to radiation exposure from scans like CT (computed tomography) scans. The findings showed that the more radiation a child received, the higher their risk of developing cancer.
These cancers include leukemia and lymphoma, which are the most common cancers in children and teenagers. While medical imaging plays an important role in diagnosing serious conditions quickly, CT scans expose children to high levels of radiation, which is a known cause of cancer. In contrast, X-rays (radiographs) use much lower doses of radiation.
The study found that head CT scans were the most common type of CT, while chest X-rays were the most common imaging test overall. Children who had one or two head CT scans were 1.8 times more likely to develop blood cancer, and this risk increased to 3.5 times higher for those who had multiple scans.
During the study period, 2,961 blood cancers were diagnosed. Of these, 79 percent were lymphoid cancers, while leukemia and other myeloid cancers made up about 15 percent. More than half of the cases were in boys, and about half were diagnosed in children under the age of five.
The researchers believe that up to 10 percent of these cancers could be prevented by reducing unnecessary scans, using the lowest possible radiation doses, and choosing safer imaging methods such as ultrasound or MRI whenever possible.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News
