Society News Archive

27 August 2002

AAPM Comments on Total-Body CT Scans

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) has released a statement that says that total-body CT scanning is "not scientifically justified" for patients without symptoms. By speaking out on whole-body scans, medical physicists are joining ranks with the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Radiology, and state agencies in Pennsylvania and Texas.

The American Institute of Physics has issued a press release summarizing the concerns expressed by medical experts on whole-body scans.

In the Health Physics Society's Newsletter April 2002 cover story, health physicists Ken Miller, Kelly Classic, Dennis Angelo, Ruth McBurney, and David Allard were interviewed by Newsletter writer Mary Walchuk about whole-body CT scanning. Copies of this article can be obtained by request.