Cancer from X-rays: "highest risk in Japan"

[Taro Toporific]

It's getting close to the Annual Health Check-up, the nearly useless "ningen-dock". Arrrg. :evil:
Study Probes Cancer Risk of X-Rays, ScansNewsday - Jan 29 / - - - ... The highest risk was in Japan, where X-rays are done much more frequently and accounted or 3.2 percent of cancer risk, or 7,587 cases per year ...

[japslapper]

I notice that even the smallest of "pseudo-hospitals" in Japan has its own x-ray machine - along with all the other gear necessery to look like the inside of the USS Enterprise. They give out medicines - I am sure in the large part to look real and proffesional , in the same way they take an X-ray.

When will J-hospitals catch up with the idea of evidence based practice and quit the dodgy impersonations of the cult TV show ER?

[Dood_Mon_Dang_]

But you Need beepy and flashy things before you can call it a Hospital...

[Caustic Saint]

But you Need beepy and flashy things before you can call it a Hospital...

And a machine that goes PING!

[cliffy]

Python Head

[AssKissinger]

One thing I don't like to dis is J-healthcare (except dentists, Shini, I do think J-dentists are fucking retards). The reason they give a lot of x-rays is because they're preventative based. One of those doctors found that I had double viral pneumonia a couple years back and I swear to God I think his thoroughness may have saved my life. As an American I must say that Japan's healthcare system is much better.

[Shinigami]

Hey AssKissinger I for one am glad they saved ya.

About those J-fool dentists. A few years ago I had to have one of those x-rays where they take a picture that starts on one side of your face and goes around the front all the way over to the other side. Well the incompetent fool screwed it up twice in the development stage so I wound up getting 3 x-rays to get ONE good picture....

Now I'm just waiting for my lips to fall off.

[Socratesabroad]

Having just gone through several series of x-rays for a long-term visa to study elsewhere in Asia, I was also hesitant at first, though I feel more confident having checked the literature. Routine x-rays are not a good diagnostic tool as a first-line measure, which the authors of the study in the link Taro posted admitted. Independent doctors in the same article agreed, although almost everyone recognizes the need for x-rays if the diagnosis suggests a need for further examination.

While even small clinics in Japan have high-tech imaging equipment, I look at this like AK as an advantage for the patient.

Perhaps the problem lies more with the condition of medicine in Japan - doctors in Japan sometimes lack experience with patient interaction as well as failing to discuss medicial errors and patients fail to educate themselves about their condition before seeing a physician or medication they receive as a result.

If I do return to Japan, I will definitely look forward to more women in Japanese medicine. I think their contribution may help remedy some of those problems...

[Buraku]

Japanese committee revealed earlier this month that Japan ran leper colonies until 1996, despite medical evidence that they were unnecessary.

Many people in the developed world might associate leprosy and leper colonies with a by-gone era.

"patients were treated as objects for research", patients' babies were killed and dead babies and foetuses of sufferers were preserved in macabre collections.

One health ministry scandal left hundreds infected with HIV
more than 1,400 Japanese haemophiliacs were exposed to HIV as a result of the Japanese Health Ministry's failure

Japan:Pedophilicdentist blames lack of sister for perversion What would he have done if he hadn't had any brothers?

journalists belong to hundreds of exclusive press clubs or "kisha clubs" which are affiliated to the organisations they cover. Club members depend on their host organisations for information and scoops. In return, there is a suspicion that they refrain from reporting issues affecting those organisations too critically. Until recently clubs could prevent non-members from attending or asking questions at their respective press conferences.

more malpractice

http://www.jref.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5069
http://forum.japantoday.com/Why_do_Japanese_Doctors_have_no_clue_about_what_they_are_doing%253F/m_52708/tm.htm&e=8092
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/embpcgi.pl/cgi-bin/res-page.epl?objid=380080
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~jfaulkne/pr_14.htm

.317 hospital patients exposed to excessive radiation Of course, the one who has died and the seven who are dying of radiation-related illnesses have been told that their poor health has noting to do with their exposure to excessive radiation
40% of emergency room patients die in Japan! Yes, that's right! It ain't no joke when you get sick or injured here!
when 40% of the people admitted to an ER die from improper medical care then something is wrong!

[Spidey]

40% of emergency room patients die in Japan! Yes, that's right! It ain't no joke when you get sick or injured here!
when 40% of the people admitted to an ER die from improper medical care then something is wrong!

Hmmm...I would have to question the validity of these stats due to cultural differences.
People in Japan tend to view the ER as a place to go when you have a serious injury or are in need of an ambulance. Common maladies such as colds, flus, or superficial injuries are typically handled through normal hospital procedures not needing emergency care. So yes, with the more severe cases and the lower number of patients visiting ERs, this figure is probably quite normal. On the other hand, in the west, we have a tendency to go the emergency room for things as simple as a splinter or a runny nose. Less severe cases and higher numbers equals a lower percentage. So this so called stat of 40% of patients dying is completely subjective given the society in which it is taken.

S

[dingosatemybaby]

An interesting thread. Some high-tech imaging equipment is very, very good: MRI and PET scanners are really quite sophisticated, and getting better all the time. And scans are vastly less costly in Japan than in the US. But watch out for CT scans! My wife (a J-doc) suggested I get one a couple of years ago. Okay, great, a useful diagnostic tool. But then I read a book last January ("Fantastic Voyage" by Ray Kurzweil) that recommends avoiding CT scans, because ONE CT scan can subject you to as much radiation as 250 X-rays! I asked my wife about that, and she kind of reverted to her I'm-a-doctor-I-know-best manner. But dingo was - and is - somewhat distressed about the whole thing. So, if your doc recommends a CT scan, ask about the alternatives, such as an MRI or PET scan, and if you must get a CT scan, ask the doctor to make it as narrow and focused as possible.

(Edit: dingo seems to be struggling with the your-you're thing)

[MrUltimateGaijin]

wots with people going to the hospital if they have a cold. It would be easier just to go to a clinic, wouldnt it?

[Taro Toporific]

wots with people going to the hospital if they have a cold. It would be easier just to go to a clinic, wouldnt it?

ERs in the States are full of flu and cold people because:
--mobile populations do not have a GP doctor to go to and no GP will give a stranger an appointment
--there's no national health insurance to guide them to a primary health care provider
--it's easier to skip out on a hospital bill than a GP at a local clinic
--Hospital ERs accept poor people on welfare and local clinics avoid them like the plague

[MrUltimateGaijin]

sorry, i was talken about japan

[dimwit]

Hey, doctors love it when people come to the hospital with a cold. There is nothing they can do anyways, so they prescribe some useless medcine and since it is a cold, the patients eventually recover anyways and credit the doctor with successfully curing them. And they get paid for it to boot.

Back to the topic. CT are a good diagnostic tool but should only be used sparingly when you have a real need. X-rays are also given far too often and pointlessly in Japan, often as part of company health check programs.

A good perspective of the risks can be found here