Clinical Radiology
Volume 62, Issue 6 , Pages 507-517, June 2007

Dose reduction in paediatric MDCT: general principles

  • A. Paterson

      Affiliations

    • Radiology Department, Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Belfast, UK
    • Corresponding Author InformationGuarantor and correspondent: A. Paterson, Radiology Department, Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, 180 Falls Road, Belfast, Co Antrim BT12 6BE, UK. Tel.: +44 28 9063 2448; fax: +44 28 9031 3798.
    • ,
  • D.P. Frush

      Affiliations

    • Division of Paediatric Radiology, Department of Radiology, Duke University Health System, Durham, North Carolina, USA

Received 27 October 2005; received in revised form 11 December 2006; accepted 18 December 2006.

The number of multi-detector array computed tomography (MDCT) examinations performed per annum continues to increase in both the adult and paediatric populations. Estimates from 2003 suggested that CT contributed 17% of a radiology department's workload, yet was responsible for up to 75% of the collective population dose from medical radiation. The effective doses for some CT examinations today overlap with those argued to have an increased risk of cancer. This is especially pertinent for paediatric CT, as children are more radiosensitive than adults (and girls more radiosensitive than boys). In addition, children have a longer life ahead of them, in which radiation induced cancers may become manifest. Radiologists must be aware of these facts and practise the ALARA (as low as is reasonably achievable) principle, when it comes to deciding CT protocols and parameters.

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PII: S0009-9260(07)00014-1

doi:10.1016/j.crad.2006.12.004

Clinical Radiology
Volume 62, Issue 6 , Pages 507-517, June 2007

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