Ads for body-imaging health screens may mislead

I have written before how full-body scans are not recommended. A recent study from the Archives of Internal Medicine notes the many misstatements in brochures advertising full-body scams – uh, I mean scans:

One ad, for example, contained the statement, “I had a time bomb in my body…You need to know.”

In addition, one quarter of the newspaper ads pointed out that the technology is FDA-approved, brushing over the fact that the agency has never approved the scans specifically for screening purposes.

In general, Illes and her colleagues found the ads and brochures urged consumers to take action to protect their own health, while “virtually none” advised them to first consult their doctors or mentioned the risks of having a scan.

These risks include the possibility of having a false-positive result or having a scan pick up a “suspicious” finding that would never have presented a significant health risk — two scenarios that could lead to further, unnecessary medical procedures and needless anxiety.

CT scans, which involve computerized X-rays that create three-dimensional images of the body, expose patients to a level of radiation far higher than that of traditional X-rays.

The FDA does not recommend whole-body scans, and neither do many other organizations:

Public health agencies and national medical and professional societies-the American College of Radiology, the American College of Cardiology / American Heart Association, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the Health Physics Society and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s U.S. Preventive Services Task Force – do not recommend CT screening.