Unregulated direct-to-consumer marketing and self-referral for screening imaging services: a call to action.

I N THIS ISSUE OF ARCHIVES, ILLES ET AL 1 PRESENT a descriptive study of the content of a sample of direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing publications, and the findings are disturbing. Their study of 40 newspaper advertisements and 20 brochures from a variety of national and regional sources found that the DTC marketing for the industry of screening computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) frequently contains misinformation, unsubstantiated scientific claims, and fearprovoking threats and that it lacks information on uncertainties and risks associated with such imaging. In fairness, the small sample of advertisements and brochures should not be assumed to be representative of all screening CT and MRI centers. Similar analyses from impartial scientific panels comparing advertisements with published clinical practice guidelines would be preferable to the ratings of 2 reviewers who may have been privy to the a priori hypotheses and therefore biased. These analyses should also measure the direct impact of the advertisements on consumer knowledge and behavior. However, until such data are available, the study presented by Illes et al “rings true,” and most health care providers have likely encountered similar advertisements in their localities. We propose a call to action by the medical community to halt DTC marketing and self-referral for screening imaging and advocate for regulatory control comparable to what is in place for pharmaceutical advertising.