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If cancer is also rare in those spots without a CT, that would seem to indicate a major confounding variable at play.

That's my point: if CT scans cause cancer, cancer in the wrist or knee should be much more frequent among people who had a wrist or knee CT scan than among the general population. CT scans are relatively new, so there probably is a record in each patient's history.

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ceejayoz 5 days ago | parent [-]

Again, not necessarily. Different things cause different cancers. You're unlikely to get melanoma from smoking; you're unlikely to get liver cancer from a sunburn.

CTs may not cause significant amounts of wrist/knee cancer - I can't speak either way on that - but that wouldn't mean they're 100% safe elsewhere. For starters, wrist/knee imaging needs less radiation - they're relatively thin parts of the body, and relatively small regions.

	▲	tgv 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		But then the assumptions behind the article is not general, and the conclusions would have to amended to the radiation dosis and/or tissue. Which makes sense, of course.