Question

I'm in very good health (for a 58-year-old woman). Is there any need for me to have CT scanning as a routine screen for any conditions, or should I just eat right, exercise, and enjoy life?

Answer

The popularity of some tests, such as mammography, PSA blood levels, and pap smear screening, has been shaken in recent years by "false negative" and "false positives". In the former, you get a negative result when in fact you have the disease, and the in "false positives" it's the reverse. Either way, a very undesired outcome!
Nevertheless, screening for colorectal, cervical, and breast cancer are recommended procedures that you should routinely undertake.
 

Newer tests are still controversial. There is insufficient evidence to say whether computed tomography (CT) scanning for lung tumors is efficient enough to make it worth while undergoing the additional exposure to radiation, itself a slightly risky step.
 

Total body screening by CT is promoted by some radiology centers, sometimes quite heavily. It might be expected to disclose an undetected aortic aneurism or a small liver tumor. But it can also lead to unnecessary surgical procedures, for instance when a mass seen on CT turns out to be quite benign.
 

Screening for coronary heart disease using electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) has become popular, too. But experts recommend against its use routinely in low-risk people, because of harm from false reassurance (false negative) or invasive testing after a positive result (false positive). It's also been reported that resting electrocardiography (ECG), exercise treadmill testing, or EBCT cannot be proved to detect coronary heart disease in low-risk persons; and there's no evidence that testing in such people actually improves their mortality rate from coronary disease.
 

The bottom line: mammography - yes, pap smears - yes, colonoscopy - yes. And for men, a regular PSA test. Otherwise, no need to spend money on screening tests, until more evidence accumulates the benefit is greater than the risk. Of course, all this advice changes dramatically if you aren't 100% healthy - ask your doctor!

Related Links
BUPA: Routine Health Screens
Which? Magazine: Health Screens