Dikhyaa Mohanty 
With the second wave of Coronavirus, there has been a heavy demand for medical oxygen but there has been a misuse of oxygen and drugs like Remdesivir. With the number of cases rising on daily basis, people are intent to panic and testing some unnecessary medical tests which can be best avoided.
As per some reports people who have tested positive for Covid-19 should not be going for a CT scan and there has been a warning against the misuse of CT scans and biomarkers by patients with mild Covid symptoms.
According to AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria, he stated that this will increase exposure to radiation which can escalate the risk of cancer with unnecessary CT scan. One CT scan is equivalent to 300-400 chest X-rays and in case of a mild case of Covid, there is no point in conducting a CT scan.
He then added that one may find patches in CT scan even if he/she is asymptomatic but may get cured easily 1 #CTScan = 300-400 Chest X-rays and with frequent CTs, risk of cancer in later life increases, for youngsters.
He further stated that data provided by the international atomic energy commission for radiation protection and medicine have shown an increased risk of cancer some years down the line due to frequent CT scans, especially if done at a young age. And a lot of people are getting CT scans and deems it important to get CT scans done if their Covid test turns out to be positive.
He also cited a study that showed that patches were detected in CT scans of 30-40 per cent of asymptomatic COVID patients, which got cleared without any treatment. So in case of mild infection, home isolation should suffice. If there’s no problem or decline in saturation, there is no use doing a CT scan as some patches will appear.
He also said that biomarkers like CRP, D-Dimer, LDH, Ferritin etc are also not of any use in case of mild symptoms and normal saturation levels as it only leads to panic reactions.
He added that all these biomarkers are acute phase reactants, which means if there is any kind of inflammation in the body these markers will soar. If anyone gets acne or zit, injury, infection in their teeth then also these biomarkers will increase because it’s the body’s inflammatory response. So, it fails to accurately show if the viral disease has increased.
