Physicians slam use of ‘unnecessary’ MRIs, CT scans in med journal

When the Food and Drug Administration approved magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners in 1984, the machines seemed incredible. They offered an inside view of the human body, making it easier to diagnose disease, injuries and physical abnormalities. Today, they’re part of a multibillion-dollar industry: In 2016, 118 out of every 1,000 Americans got an MRI. The use of CT scans was even higher: 245 per 1,000 people in 2016.

But was all of that testing actually necessary?

No way, say physicians from the Mayo Clinic and Stanford University. In a viewpoint article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, they argue it’s time to put the brakes on unnecessary diagnostic imaging.

“There is virtually no evidence that screening of this kind improves overall population health,” write Ohad Oren, Electron Kebebew and John P.A. Ioannidis. But, they admit, it will take a lot to wean Americans off their addiction to medical imaging.

When it comes to this imaging, more doesn’t necessarily mean better. Imaging can expose patients to radiation. Some patients can suffer side-effects from the contrast material that is injected into their bodies before some scans.

Unnecessary imaging can also detect abnormalities that aren’t related to the reason the test is being performed, they write. These mostly incidental findings can be red herrings, causing diagnoses that aren’t useful, leading to treatments that don’t work, and causing stress and anxiety to patients.