Whole body scan not cost effective

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

An analysis suggests there is little to be gained from whole body computed tomography.
There's debate over whether screening by whole body computed tomography (CT) scanning in healthy people is a good way of detecting the early signs of cancer. Doctors at Harvard Medical School have done an analysis based on a computer model that shows that the whole body scan is not cost effective. The risks of radiation exposure and the anxiety engendered by false positive results outweigh the potential health benefits.

They say the exams would add, at most, six days to the life expectancy of the average person and the cost would be over 2,500 dollars - money that could be better spent on other screening procedures and medical interventions. However, they caution that these findings come from a computer model and need to be checked against actual clinical data. Currently this kind of data on whole body scans is rather scarce. Until more research is done, routine whole body scans are probably not to be recommended.

Source
Radiology February 2005