Duke University researchers have reported that among cancer patients on Medicare, the medicals scans’ costs are increasing twice as fast as the total costs of cancer care.

Lead researcher, Dr. Kevin A. Schulman, a Professor of Medicine and Business Administration and Associate Director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute stated that there has been a noteworthy increase in the use of imaging services for cancer patients ever since 1999, particularly, in complex imaging services for example CAT scans, MRI and PET scans.

Schulman established that more scans not essentially always provide positive results. He said that patients on their own should try to understand and prevent the chances from undergoing unnecessary scans.

It is always advisable that patients ask their physicians, as to why they have been recommended to undergo a particular scan.

In order to conduct the research, Schulman's members collected information on imaging expenses of 100,954 cancer patients on Medicare, who were diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma, breast, lung, prostate or colon cancer between 1999 and 2006.

While overall cost of treating rose by 2% - 5%, the cost of imaging increased by 5%- 10%.