Will China gradually stop “CT scans”?

Will doing a body check exhaust you?
The doctor tells you the truth;
Recently, a free clinic was held in the community, and a 70-something-year-old man tightly clutched his recently done CT report and said to me: “Director, I heard that the country doesn’t want us to do CT scans anymore, that this thing has high radiation, and doing it once is equivalent to hundreds of X-ray images. Is that true?”
This sounds quite frightening, but it’s actually quite common. Now there are all kinds of claims online everywhere, saying CT is an invisible killer, hospitals make money from it, it damages your vitality, harms your kidneys and liver…
Many elderly people would rather tough it out than go for a check-up.
CT is not poison, it’s a scalpel.
Many people panic when they hear about radiation, but it’s important to understand that the radiation dose from medical CT scans is within a safe range.
Here’s a concrete example:
A chest CT scan has about 7 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation, while the national limit for radiation workers is 50 mSv per year.
The natural background radiation that an average person receives in a year (from air, soil, and cosmic rays) is 2-3 mSv.
One CT scan is equivalent to absorbing the radiation from two or three years of natural living, which is indeed higher than a regular X-ray, but far from damaging or destroying the body.
Why do some people say that after a CT scan, the body gets worse?
Many elderly people feel dizzy, lack energy, and have poor appetite after a CT scan, thinking it’s radiation damaging their vitality.
In most cases, it’s caused by other reasons.
Psychological stress is too heavy.
Once in the CT room, they become nervous; after the scan, they obsess over the nodule calcification density increase on the report, and the more they think about it, the more afraid they become.
Their body naturally becomes weak, which is called emotional injury to the liver, liver qi stagnation, and it then affects the spleen and stomach’s digestion.
Poor control of underlying diseases, and blaming the check-up.
Many elderly people already have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease, and are physically weak.
On the day of the exam, fasting, rushing around, staying up late in line, and physical exhaustion can worsen symptoms, but they blame it on the CT.
Overly aggressive testing by some institutions is indeed unnecessary.
For example, doing a full-body CT for a cold or cough lasting only three days, or annual low-dose lung CT scans without assessing the risk-benefit ratio—these are the real issues.
CT should be used when necessary; forcing it when not needed can harm the body.
Here are four practical tips for middle-aged and elderly people:
CT is not something to fear, nor is it a cure-all.
The key is how to use it.
Remember these points to feel reassured and safe.
1. Only do it with clear indications; don’t do it just for peace of mind.
For example, if you smoke long-term and have a cough with blood, a lung CT is reasonable.
But if it’s just occasional chest tightness, see a cardiologist first, adjust your qi and blood, and don’t rush to do a CT.
2. No more than 1-2 times a year unless medically necessary.
Healthy elderly people should prioritize low-dose lung CT (about 1.5 mSv) during annual check-ups.
If you’ve already had contrast-enhanced CT, try to avoid repeating it within six months.
3. Properly nourishing your vital energy before and after the exam is important.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes radiation is a kind of heat toxin that can deplete qi and damage yin.
A week before the scan, drink some water infused with Mai Dong and Yu Zhu.
After the scan, eat some yam porridge or lily seed and lotus seed soup to help restore vitality.
4. Don’t believe rumors about stopping the use of CT.
To enhance imaging diagnostic ability, it’s about stopping misuse, not the technology itself.