Background/introduction
The number of computed tomography (CT) examinations has been significantly increased in recent years (1).
Lower doses in newly manufactured devices and reduced motion artifacts through fast gantry rotation cycle times led to increased utilization of this powerful diagnostic tool in the pediatric population.
Radiation-induced carcinogenesis is generally accepted as a stochastic process.
Children and young adults are more sensitive to the stochastic effects of ionizing radiation because their young bodies undergo rapid cell division (1-5).
Diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) have been recommended as an...
Description of activity and work performed
Eighty-three patients in childhood (39 male,
44 female; mean age: 13,49,
ranging between 2 and 17) who were admitted to our emergency department with trauma and underwent spine CT between January 2017- September 2018 were included in this study.
Patients were divided into three age groups: 0-7 (group 1),
7-14 (group 2) and 14-18 years (group 3).
There were 9 patients in group 1,
17 patients in group 2 and 57 patients in group 3.
In group 1,
thoracic spine CT was performed on 3...
Conclusion and recommendations
Polytrauma patients with suspicion of spine injury usually undergo plain radiography in emergency departments.
However,
difficulty of positioning for appropriate radiograph acquisition and low sensitivity constitute drawbacks of plain radiography in detection of spine injury.
CT is more adequate in patients with suspected spinal injury (7).
In our study,
50% of the patients with spine injury had normal plain radiography which denotes necessity of CT in emergency spine settings.
Spine CT should be performed with appropriate protocols that account radiation dose reduction considerations.
Scan length...
Personal/organisational information
1.Sevtap Arslan (submitting author),
Radiology Assistant,
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine,
Department of Radiology,
Ankara,
Turkey
2.Mehmet Ruhi Onur,
Associate Professor,
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine,
Department of Radiology,
Ankara,
Turkey
3.
Yasin Sarıkaya,
Radiologist,
Sami Ulus Children's Hospital Department of Radiology,
Ankara,
Turkey
4.Hatice Nursun Özcan,
Associate Professor,
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine,
Department of Radiology,
Ankara,
Turkey
5.Mithat Haliloğlu,
Professor,
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine,
Department of Radiology,
Ankara,
Turkey
6.
Deniz Akata,
Professor,
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine,
Department of Radiology,
Ankara,...
References
1.
Zacharias C,
Alessio AM,
Otto RK,
Iyer RS,
Philips GS,
Swanson JO,
Thapa MM.
Pediatric CT: strategies to lower radiation dose.
AJR Am J Roentgenol.
2013 May;200(5):950-6
2.
Strauss KJ,
Goske MJ,
Kaste SC,
et al.
Image Gently: ten steps you can take to optimize image quality and lower CT dose for pediatric patients.
AJR 2010; 194:868–873
3.
Brenner DJ,
Elliston CD,
Hall EJ,
Berdon WE.
Estimated risk of radiation-induced fatal cancer from pediatric CT.
AJR 2001; 176:289–296).
4.
Nagayama Y,
Oda S,
Nakaura...