CT Dose Reduction in Children

Overview

Journal Eur Radiol

Specialty Radiology

Date 2005 Aug 11

PMID 16091948

Citations 21

Authors

Peter Vock

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

World wide, the number of CT studies in children and the radiation exposure by CT increases. The same energy dose has a greater biological impact in children than in adults, and scan parameters have to be adapted to the smaller diameter of the juvenile body. Based on seven rules, a practical approach to paediatric CT is shown: Justification and patient preparation are important steps before scanning, and they differ from the preparation of adult patients. The subsequent choice of scan parameters aims at obtaining the minimal signal-to-noise ratio and volume coverage needed in a specific medical situation; exposure can be divided in two aspects: the CT dose index determining energy deposition per rotation and the dose-length product (DLP) determining the volume dose. DLP closely parallels the effective dose, the best parameter of the biological impact. Modern scanners offer dose modulation to locally minimise exposure while maintaining image quality. Beyond the selection of the physical parameters, the dose can be kept low by scanning the minimal length of the body and by avoiding any non-qualified repeated scanning of parts of the body. Following these rules, paediatric CT examinations of good quality can be obtained at a reasonable cost of radiation exposure.

Citing Articles

Optimizing radiation dose by varying age at pediatric temporal bone CT.

Noto D, Funama Y, Kitajima M, Utsunomiya D, Oda S, Yamashita Y J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2015; 16(1):5082.

PMID: 25679165 PMC: 5689997. DOI: 10.1120/jacmp.v16i1.5082.

Dual bolus intravenous contrast injection technique for multiregion paediatric body CT.

Thomas K, Mann E, Padfield N, Greco L, BenDavid G, Alzahrani A Eur Radiol. 2014; 25(4):1014-22.

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Is chest CT useful in newborn screened infants with cystic fibrosis at 1 year of age?.

Thia L, Calder A, Stocks J, Bush A, Owens C, Wallis C Thorax. 2013; 69(4):320-7.

PMID: 24132911 PMC: 3963531. DOI: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2013-204176.

Dose reduction with adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction for paediatric CT: phantom study and clinical experience on chest and abdomen CT.

Gay F, Pavia Y, Pierrat N, Lasalle S, Neuenschwander S, Brisse H Eur Radiol. 2013; 24(1):102-11.

PMID: 23995879 DOI: 10.1007/s00330-013-2982-z.

Excess radiation and organ dose in chest and abdominal CT due to CT acquisition beyond expected anatomical boundaries.

Zanca F, Demeter M, Oyen R, Bosmans H Eur Radiol. 2011; 22(4):779-88.

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