• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

MassDevice

The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice

  • Latest News
    • Cardiovascular
    • Orthopedics
  • Wall Street Beat
    • Funding Roundup
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Podcasts & Webinars
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars
  • Resources
    • About MassDevice
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Leadership in Medtech
    • Manufacturers & Suppliers Search
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Videos
    • Whitepapers
  • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
  • Coronavirus: Live updates
Home » When an airport scanner sees a cyst as a security threat

When an airport scanner sees a cyst as a security threat

September 8, 2016 By MassDevice

reuters-sept08-1x1(Reuters) – A traveler with a bulge in their body from a cyst or hernia might get flagged for an invasive airport security screening to look for explosives, a case report suggests.

In many larger airports, X-rays have been replaced in recent years by machines that use radio frequencies to detect suspicious items on travelers, researchers note in JAMA Dermatology.

One female traveler with a common type of skin cyst was flagged for a hidden explosive search at a U.S. airport, her physician, Dr. Warren Heymann, notes in the report.

“Until my patient told me her story, I had never encountered this situation,” Heymann, a researcher at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, N.J., said by email.

“To the best of my knowledge, there has only been one similar case in the medical literature, as noted in my article – a man with a hernia,” Heymann added.

On future trips, this woman traveled with a doctor’s note explaining her condition that she could show airport security agents, Heymann said in the case report.

The man with the hernia had a protrusion in his groin area that alarmed airport screeners. This traveler was interrogated and subjected to a genital exam, Heymann reported.

“I would suggest that people be aware that this could happen to them if they have prominent lesions on their skin,” Heymann said by email.

“Having a letter from a physician noting the presence of a cyst, hernia, or other lesion might help, but understandably, the TSA agent may still wish to perform a pat down and a swipe for contraband,” Heymann added. “Mutual understanding and respect should allow the screening process to go smoothly.”

Airport scanners generally show solid masses on the surface area of a person’s body and/or in their clothing.

If a large cyst or mass appears to stick up above the skin or body outline around it, or looks like a solid mass compared to the area around it, the scanner may reflect that, said Dr. Mahadevappa Mahesh, a radiology and public health researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who wasn’t involved in the case report.

There’s no data on how many travelers may experience incidents like the woman with the cyst or the man with the hernia, Mahesh, a member of the American College of Radiology’s medical physics commission, said by email.

“We suspect that it is a rare situation,” Mahesh said.

It’s more common for patients that have been injected with or ingested a radioactive material for nuclear medicine exams to be flagged for airport screening because radiation may be detected if they travel shortly after their procedures, Mahesh added.

While smaller cysts shouldn’t confuse airport scanners, it’s more likely that travelers would be flagged when they have larger ones, said Dr. David Brenner, a radiology researcher at Columbia University Medical Center in New York who wasn’t involved in the case report.

“If you do have a large (greater than 2 inch) external skin lesion which is located under your clothes, you would be prudent to get a doctor’s note before traveling – but you still might expect a patdown,” Brenner said by email.

Filed Under: Imaging Tagged With: Journal of the American Medical Assn. (JAMA)

In case you missed it

  • Ambu replaces CEO with new leadership
  • Moderna’s first bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster candidate shows promise
  • AdvaMed joins Biden’s Joint Supply Chain Resilience Working Group
  • FDA clears Accelus’ Toro-L interbody fusion system
  • Teleflex’s UroLift cleared in China to treat BPH
  • Globus Medical announces first surgeries with Excelsius3D
  • Abbott reports positive data on heart valve therapies
  • OncoRes Medical raises another $12.5M
  • NeuroMetrix’s Quell neuromodulation device wins FDA de novo nod to treat fibromyalgia
  • Inogen appoints Agnes Lee as senior VP of investor relations, strategic planning
  • Google Health hires FDA’s chief digital health officer
  • ApiJect picks up $111M investment from Royalty Pharma, Jefferies
  • Expect more heart and lung failure years after COVID, Abbott’s heart failure CMO says
  • Teleflex wins Health Canada nod for Manta vascular closure device
  • Study shows strong performance, improved outcomes with Medtronic Evolut TAVR
  • New FDA clearance expands indications for Xact Robotics’ ablation system
  • Medtronic’s Resolute Onyx drug-eluting stent demonstrates strong safety, efficacy

RSS From Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • BD, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical partner on better materials for plastic syringes
    BD (NYSE:BDX) announced that it partnered with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company on applying new technology to pre-fillable syringes. MGC develops the Oxycapt technology designed to integrate the best of plastic and glass for plastic syringes. BD and Tokyo-based MGC will work together to apply Oxycapt technology to the next generation of pre-fillable syringes (PFS) for advanced… […]
  • Ambu replaces CEO with new leadership
    Ambu today said it has hired board member Britt Meelby Jensen to replace CEO Juan Jose Gonzalez, effective tomorrow. “Since Juan Jose Gonzalez joined as CEO in 2019, Ambu has made good progress and achieved important milestones on the strategic transformation into the world’s largest single-use endoscopy company,” Ambu Chair Jørgen Jensen said in a… […]
  • AdvaMed joins Biden’s Joint Supply Chain Resilience Working Group
    AdvaMed executive Abby Pratt has joined the executive committee for the Biden administration’s Joint Supply Chain Resilience Working Group, the medtech industry association said today. The working group’s members from government and industry will assist with implementation of the National Strategy for a Resilient Public Health Supply Chain. Pratt oversees supply chain issues as SVP… […]
  • Toray develops new stretchable film for medical devices
    Toray Industries has a new stretchable film based on its proprietary polymer Reactis technology, with potential applications that include robotics and biological and industrial sensors. Tokyo-based Toray said it shipped samples to customers and plans research and development efforts to commercialize the new grade of film. “Recent years have increased the potential for developing stretchable… […]
  • Google Health hires FDA’s chief digital health officer
    Former FDA Chief Digital Health Officer of Global Strategy and Innovation Bakul Patel has started a new job with Google after 13 years with the regulatory agency. Patel became senior director, global digital health strategy and regulatory for Google Health earlier this month, he said on LinkedIn. Patel recounted highlights of his “incredible journey since… […]
  • Expect more heart and lung failure years after COVID, Abbott’s heart failure CMO says
    Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, we know more than ever about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and how quickly it moves to ravage the human body. What remains to be seen is how the virus — and perhaps more importantly, our immune system’s response to it — will affect the health of people long after infection,… […]
  • FDA moves forward with Voluntary Improvement Program to bolster medical device quality
    Kathryn Burke, Emergo Group The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued new draft guidance to establish a full-blown voluntary program for improving quality-related processes in medical device manufacturing following promising results of a pilot program. The FDA guidance stems from a pilot undertaken by the agency along with the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC) in 2018.… […]
  • How Minnetronix Medical helped Lazurite with its wireless surgical camera
    Minnetronix Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) has played an important development and manufacturing partner role with Lazurite’s wireless surgical camera system. It’s been nearly two months since Lazurite (formerly Indago) announced FDA 510(k) clearance of its ArthroFree system. ArthroFree combines proprietary low-heat, high-intensity Meridiem light engine technology with advanced camera, battery and wireless transmission technologies and… […]
  • Instron releases TrendTracker data analysis workflow platform
    Instron announced that it released the TrendTracker module in Bluehill Central for accelerating data analysis workflows. Norwood, Massachusetts-based Instron designed TrendTracker with an intuitive interface to improve the data analysis workflow of single or multi-location materials testing laboratories. According to a news release, the platform features quick searching and the ability to display and analyze… […]
  • Henry Schein hires former Medline veteran to drive ‘One Distribution’ push
    Henry Schein (Nasdaq:HSIC) today named Dirk Benson as VP and chief commercial officer of the medical device manufacturer and distributor’s North America Distribution Group (NADG). Melville, New York-based Henry Schein is the world’s largest provider of health care supplies and services for office-based dental and medical practitioners, and NADG is the company’s largest business group. The… […]
  • The road to a robot: Medtronic’s development process for its Hugo RAS system
    Elephants are the perfect analogy for surgical robotics, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) VP of Marketing for Surgical Robotics Mike Stow says. Speaking on the “Road to a robot: Designing technology to address unmet needs & barriers” panel at DeviceTalks Boston last week, Stow explained that elephants are big, taking up a lot of space and that they eat a lot, making… […]

Primary Sidebar

DeviceTalks Weekly

May 13, 2022
Our Pre-Post-DeviceTalks Boston episode, also MedtronicTalks replay with Gastro CMO Austin Chiang
See More >

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
Need Medtech news in a minute?
We Deliver!

MassDevice Enewsletters get you caught up on all the mission critical news you need in med tech. Sign up today.

MDO ad

Footer

MASSDEVICE MEDICAL NETWORK

DeviceTalks
Drug Delivery Business News
Medical Design & Outsourcing
Medical Tubing + Extrusion
Drug Discovery & Development
Pharmaceutical Processing World
MedTech 100 Index
R&D World

Device Talks Webinars, Podcasts, & Discussions

Attend our Monthly Webinars
Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
Join our Device Talks Tuesdays Discussion

MASSDEVICE

Subscribe to MassDevice E-Newsletter
Advertise with us
About
Contact us
Add us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Connect with us on LinkedIn Follow us on YouTube

Copyright © 2022 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Advertise | Privacy Policy | RSS