Even the radiologists are admitting that fact. And they stand to financially benefit most from the cardiac imaging boom.
A study shows that almost 20 percent of patients who had the test over the past 7 months did not need it. Why then, did they receive it? It’s the convenience factor, since “cardiac CT is a painless, noninvasive test that’s really easy for a physician to order.”
I wrote last week about how these scans aren’t ready for prime time. With that in mind, it’s inexcusable that “two-thirds of the inappropriate studies involved an asymptomatic patient with a low pretest probability of coronary heart disease.”
Related posts:
- More trouble for CT scans of the heart
- Cardiac scans are not ready for prime time
- Cardiac CT scans
- Risks of cardiac CT scanning
- CT scans
- Why too many CT and MRI scans can be dangerous for patients
- Cardiac arrest and good business
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{ 1 comment }
You do realize that the abusers of this and those that stand the most to gain are NOT radiologists. It is the cardiologists who have one in their office and self refer everyone through them regardless of whether or not they need one! Once again your animosity towards radiologists clouds your understanding of an issue. I used to enjoy this blog but over the past few months it has become apparent that you resent radiologists and the success the field has had over the past two decades. It is a shame.
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