At the time, the French report drew little media attention. And McCollough worries that the media focuses too much on one-sided medical radiation stories. "It's the communication element," she said. "The press reports it. People believe it. People are afraid of radiation because these things keep getting vented over and over."

While the panelists thought it would be better for the public to understand there was some uncertainty, they didn't recommend that radiologists shrug their shoulders and throw up their hands when asked by a patient what the risks were from CT scans.


Dr. Donald P. Frush, chief of pediatric radiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., gave the example of worried parents bringing a child with a head injury to the emergency room. If asked by a parent if the radiation from the CT scan being run to check for bleeding is going to be harmful, would the radiologist say, "I don't know"?

"You can see how that doctor-patient relationship is strange," he said. "Whether or not the information is clear and defined, you can construct that [explanation] in a better way." For instance, explain to the parent that there could be a risk, but a small one, and it's far outweighed by the diagnostic value of the exam.

"At the end of the day the controversy will never go away," McCollough conceded. "I'll retire and this controversy will still be going on."





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