Why President Obama got a CT scan for his heartburn

The news that President Obama had a CT scan because of what turned out to be heartburn might make you wonder why you don't get the same treatment. Well, it's partly because he's the leader of the free world. But more important, his doctors might have had good reason to be worried about more serious problems, including a tumor or an abscess in his throat.

His doctors reportedly ordered a CT scan only after an initial test with a fiber-optic imaging device revealed swelling and inflammation in his throat. "That inflammation could be due to heartburn, as his stomach acid backs up, or refluxes, into his throat, causing a sore throat," says Marvin M. Lipman, M.D., chief medical adviser to Consumer Reports. "But it could also be from an underlying tumor, either cancerous or not, hiding behind his pharynx. The best way to rule that out is with a CT scan," he says.

Plus, the president has a history of being a smoker, which makes the likelihood of a tumor greater.

Once the CT scan ruled out a tumor, the president's doctors settled on a diagnosis of chronic heartburn. To treat that condition, we hope they follow our Best Buy Drug recommendations for heartburn: either omeprazole or lansoprazole, the generic versions of Prilosec and Prevacid, respectively. The generics are less expensive than their brand-name counterparts but are just as safe and effective.

It's possible that the president's doctors recommended a CT scan for the president sooner than they would have for others. For example, a reasonable course of action for people with heartburn symptoms and inflammation is to try several weeks on heartburn drugs to see whether that eases the problem.

So if your doctor doesn't recommend a CT scan for your sore throat, you shouldn't worry that you're getting inferior treatment. In fact, avoiding CT scans when you can is often a good idea.  "CT scans expose you to a lot of radiation, which can increase your risk of cancer," Lipman says, adding that "when they're really necessary they can provide valuable information."

Read more about when CT scans are and aren't warranted.

—Joel Keehn