CT scans may increase cancer risk - WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |

Undated (WXOW) - The radiation from repeated CT scans could increase children's risk of leukemia and brain cancer.

The results of a new study find the increased risk is small but significant.

Compared to the general population, children under 15 years of age who had two or three scans of the head had three-times the risk of developing brain cancer; five to 10 scans also tripled the risk of leukemia.

The risk of either is already extremely low, so even tripled, researchers say it's only a small increase.

The new study was published online in a British medical journal.

It stresses that the results should not encourage people to avoid CT scans entirely, but researchers say they should only been conducted when necessary.

At least four million kids in the United States undergo CT scans every year.

Researchers estimate one third of those scans are unnecessary or could be replaced by other imaging methods that do not use radiation.