In the News – Hospital Error Results in Radiation Overdose and Hair Loss

Snippet from the article:

Scores of radiation overdoses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have been traced to a single cause: a mistake the hospital made resetting a CT scanner.

Hospital officials said Monday that the error occurred in February 2008, when the hospital began using a new protocol for a specialized type of scan used to diagnose strokes. Doctors believed it would provide them more useful data to analyze disruptions in the flow of blood to brain tissue.

Read the full text at the Los Angeles Times

Oh, wow! While a normal CT scan (also known as a CAT scan) should not result in hair loss, it was that side effect in 40% of patients treated that set off red flags. The article adds, “The error went unnoticed for the next 18 months, until this August, when a stroke patient informed the hospital that he had begun losing his hair after a scan.”