Incidentalomas

Wayne Kondro

A lack of regulation has allowed some private medical clinics to flog medical imaging (magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography and positron emission tomography) tests and screening procedures that put some Canadians at unnecessary risk and ultimately increase the workload for the public system, according to a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study.

Unjustified screening, such as heart, lung and full-body scans of asymptomatic people can lead to false positive results and such consequences as “cascading procedures, unnecessary patient anxiety, patient harm from radiation, as well as the potential harm to community health systems,” states the report, What’s in a Scan: How Well Are Consumers Informed About the Benefits and Harms Related to Screening Technology (CT and PET Scans) in Canada?

FIGURE. Image courtesy of Photos.com

“We have found no evidence that national, provincial, or professional regulatory bodies have effective policies to protect Canadians from harms arising from such screening, such as increased medical investigations of false positives, increased anxiety and ‘cancer scares,’ and cumulative exposure to ionizing radiation from repeat testing,” stated authors Alan Cassels, University of Victoria health policy analyst; Wendy Armstrong, Consumers’ Association of Alberta policy researcher; and Jaclyn van Wiltenburg, University of Victoria School of Health Information Science research coordinator, in the study (www.policyalternatives.ca/~ASSETS/DOCUMENT/National_Office_Pubs/2009/Whats_in_a_Scan.pdf).

“Provincial governments must establish meaningful oversight over the marketing and use of these procedures, given that voluntary, professional oversight is ineffective,” the authors added.