Right now of course the focus is on security but we have also had people arrested and tracked down who were deemed “not healthy” and scares related to 
healthcare with other passengers potentially being exposed to viruses that could be carried by individuals.
You can watch the videos where the reporters go into detail on the two types of scanners being used and see that some produce the equivalent of an x-ray, perhaps similar to what we have in a medical setting. Right now the images, according to the articles posted on the web, dispose of the images once they have been viewed.
As we have watched electronic monitoring devices evolve and our reliance upon them in healthcare, I somewhat ask this question about how the imaging could evolve. Traveling could become very interesting in the future and not too long ago I did a somewhat humorous post, carried on LiveStrong about taking your TSA scan to the doctor with you. The post was about the visit to the doctor in the future and used technology that is here today in ways we may not have thought of yet. At some point in time cost and re-use could potentially stand to enter the picture here as we hear this consistently in healthcare cost items today. If someone gets through that should not be allowed to fly, where are the audit trails to go back and find out if it was a human error that missed something? Being we are the curious community with a craving desire for transparency and getting to the bottom of what created or caused certain situations, I can’t help but think we could see some further evolution here, but then again what I do I know (grin). When I write about blue tooth inhalers that are capable of electronically monitoring compliance with taking medications that people still think are Sci-Fi, nothing surprises me anymore.
Granted, those with implants made of metal can have an easier task of getting through security as metal scanning sends off alerts when detected. Anyway, just some pondering thoughts here on some questions with spending the money on the machines, and someone along the line determining there is another potential use to “save money” somewhere down the line for re-use of the images. Technology works this way with sharing and keeping cost down in many areas and is phased into operation in stages, so perhaps once body scanners are in full swing, there could be some changes on the imaging side of things, but again, privacy needs to be kept upfront and not forgotten. BD
Technology as I always say is throwing everybody a new left curve every day and we are seeing things today that 5 years ago were not possible or even thought of, so again it will be interesting to watch and see how technology crosses paths from one area of security to potentially offering information/data in healthcare possibly. BD
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Christmas Day attack on a jetliner over Detroit, combined with technological improvements to protect people's sense of modesty, could lead to dramatically wider use of full-body scanners that can see through travelers' clothing.
Dutch officials said Wednesday they will immediately begin using the machines at Amsterdam's airport, where the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up the Northwest Airlines plane began his flight.
And a key European lawmaker also called for greater use of the scanners, which are designed to spot explosives and other non-metallic objects that a metal detector would miss.
TSA Eyes Full-Body Scanners in Airports