While some hospitals have started offering discounted CT scans for smokers, some experts question whether hospitals' marketing efforts may cause them to deemphasize the costs and risks of the scans, according to a Kaiser Health News report.
Hospitals, including the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Swedish Medical Center in Denver, are offering low-cost CT scans to smokers in response to a National Cancer Institute study that found annual low-dose CT screening of smokers could reduce the rate of death from lung cancer by 20 percent through early detection.
Some experts, however, are concerned that promotion of the discounted scans will fail to alert patients to the risks, such as false positives and radiation exposure.
Read the Kaiser Health News report on CT scans.
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Hospitals, including the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Swedish Medical Center in Denver, are offering low-cost CT scans to smokers in response to a National Cancer Institute study that found annual low-dose CT screening of smokers could reduce the rate of death from lung cancer by 20 percent through early detection.
Some experts, however, are concerned that promotion of the discounted scans will fail to alert patients to the risks, such as false positives and radiation exposure.
Read the Kaiser Health News report on CT scans.
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