title: Justification of CT for Individual Health Assessment of Asymptomatic Persons: A World Health Organization Consultation.
abstract: An international expert consultation was convened by the World Health Organization (WHO). The purpose of the meeting was to review the use of CT in examining asymptomatic people. This is often referred to as individual health assessment (IHA). IHA was identified as a global phenomenon unenthusiastically tolerated, and not actively promoted, structured, or regulated in most countries. This paper identifies the state of the art for IHA and some considerations in relation to its justification, in different regions of the world. The outcomes reached include the following: questions around terminology and culture of IHA practice; review of IHA in some countries, regions, and international bodies; dilemmas for participants in IHA; risk communication, education, and training for professions and public; the desirability of guidelines and clinical audit; social, ethical, public health, and resource considerations; and a framework for IHA and regulatory considerations. Three subcategories of examination for asymptomatic individuals were identified: formal screening programs; examinations for which the evidence base or risk profile is incomplete; and opportunistic examinations with little or no evidence or risk profile to suggest they have any merit. The latter challenges the justification principle of radiation protection. In addition, the issue of the costs, direct and indirect, associated with false positives and/or equivocal/incidental findings were highlighted. These and other considerations make it difficult to view some IHA as a bona fide medical activity. To allow it to be viewed as such requires that it be conducted within a robust clinical governance framework that includes regulatory dimensions.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, St James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. Electronic address: jfmalone@tcd.ie.
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Malone
authors.affiliation: Radiation Programme, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Del Rosario Perez
authors.affiliation: Section for Medical Applications, Department of Radiation Application, Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, Østerås, Norway.
authors.forename: Eva Godske
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Friberg
authors.affiliation: Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prokop
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Eun
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz (BfS), Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jurgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Griebel
authors.affiliation: Directorate CRCE, Public Health England, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ebdon-Jackson
mesh_terms: D058070:Asymptomatic Diseases; D006801:Humans; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000592:standards*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011871:Radiology / Q000592:standards*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000592:standards*; D014944:World Health Organization
keywords: CT scans; IHA; Radiation risk; WHO; asymptomatic; ethics; justification; public health