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 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, New Jersey, 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.
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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.
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