Whole Body CT Screening: Is Intuition Enough?
I realize that the focus of your journal is economics, and that
whole body CT screening (July 2002) might well make good financial
sense, at least for the radiologist. However, Dr Brant-Zawadzki
admits that his belief in the value of detecting certain diseases
in their preclinical stages is intuitive, given the lack of any
controlled scientific study. It is a worthwhile reminder that other
public health measuresthymic irradiation in healthy children,
supplemental oxygen for healthy premature infants, and, recently,
the administration of combined estrogen and progestin to healthy
postmenopausal womenmade intuitive good sense until we learned
otherwise.1
Ian Hammond, MD
Ottawa Hospital
Ottawa, Ontario
References:
- Sackett DL. The arrogance of preventive medicine. CMAJ. 2002;167(4):363-4.
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