Care should be taken when using CT in kids, Elizabeth Tracey reports
Update: 2025-10-13
Description
Transcript
Using CT scanning in children should be limited, a recent study concludes, finding that about one in ten cancers in kids were likely related to imaging studies using ionizing radiation. Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson at Johns Hopkins comments.
Nelson: Some of the CT instruments that are distributed throughout the country aren't very well calibrated in terms of the dose that they deliver for the same scan you. So you get a CT sometimes there's a variation in how much dose is administered. I don't think it's surprising but I think the lesson of this is that you shouldn't use imaging unless you really need to. Obviously if you really need to it's definitely valuable and keep pressing on the device industry to come up with imaging that involves less and less exposures if possible. :30
There are alternatives to CT such as MRI and ultrasound, which do not employ radiation to generate images, and these might also be considered where appropriate, Nelson says, noting that for some studies CT is best. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
Using CT scanning in children should be limited, a recent study concludes, finding that about one in ten cancers in kids were likely related to imaging studies using ionizing radiation. Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson at Johns Hopkins comments.
Nelson: Some of the CT instruments that are distributed throughout the country aren't very well calibrated in terms of the dose that they deliver for the same scan you. So you get a CT sometimes there's a variation in how much dose is administered. I don't think it's surprising but I think the lesson of this is that you shouldn't use imaging unless you really need to. Obviously if you really need to it's definitely valuable and keep pressing on the device industry to come up with imaging that involves less and less exposures if possible. :30
There are alternatives to CT such as MRI and ultrasound, which do not employ radiation to generate images, and these might also be considered where appropriate, Nelson says, noting that for some studies CT is best. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
Comments
In Channel
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States00:00
00:00
x
