Dosimetry of Pediatric PET/CT

The use of PET/CT in children has grown substantially in the past few years. There is also an increased interest in keeping the radiation dose to children from CT as low as is clinically practical. This article reviews the physical aspects of both PET and CT separately and how CT is used in the context of PET/CT to provide the practical insight necessary to approach this issue. Understanding radiation dosimetry and its potential for deleterious health effects, having knowledge of the magnitude of the effective dose and the dose to specific organs from PET and CT, and considering the role of CT in the context of PET/CT will allow the reader to reduce the radiation dose to the patient without compromising the quality of the patient's care.