You are in PORTALS Digital Radiography An International Study discusses The Unnecessary Pediatric Radiation Exposure

An International Study discusses The Unnecessary Pediatric Radiation Exposure

E-mail Print PDF


Share

According to an international study, carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), some countries are delivering too much radiation doses to children while performing computed tomography (CT) scans. These children are subjected to radiation doses of adults. This comes despite the continuos warnings, for nearly a decade, from experts about the resulting danger. The study took place at 128 healthcare facilities in 28 developing countries in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. It noted that there is a significant variation in radiation doses and frequency of CT scans carried on children less than 15 years of age.

Dr. Madan Rehani, IAEA Radiation Safety Specialist, the study coordinator, said "This study focused on Dr._Rehanichildren because they are more sensitive to radiation and they have longer to live. So the use of adult parameters on a child when performing a CT scan means there is an increased radiation dose and an increased risk of developing cancer in the long-term." The study reported that 11 CT centres in 6 countries were applying adult exposure parameters for pediatric patients. Dr. Rehani mentioned that such errors are normally as a result to the lack of awareness of the operator. Yet, he added that detecting the higher radiation doses from CT scans' images is difficult. Dr. Rehani added "With these scans, if the exposure is too high the image does not deteriorate, in fact it tends to look better. This is in contrast to the conventional X-rays. If the exposure is slightly higher, the image goes black. So you know you have given a higher radiation dose than required."

This latest study represents the continuos efforts from IAEA aiming to enhance awareness of radiation protection for patients all over the world. CT is an X-ray based procedure, which generated 3D views of internal organs or blood vessels. The procedure is a major advance in medical imaging and thus improves diagnosis significantly. However, raising concerns regarding CT scans are increasing since the procedure includes the delivery of relatively higher doses of radiation to patients rather than conventional X-rays. Eliana Amaral, Director of the IAEA´s Radiation Transport & Waste Safety Division, mentioned that a recent workshop was held by the IAEA in collaboration with the European Commission found that there is a common unnecessary medical exposure in medical radiology. She said "This could lead to an unnecessary radiation burden for people all over the world. Therefore, to maximize the benefits of these techniques, the doctors have to ensure that the procedure is justified,"

The study also noted that there is a significant difference in the levels of radiation exposure from region to region. There are international, regional, and even national diagnostic radiology guidelines. IAEA programs are aiming to assess if the delivered doses given to patients are within these levels or not. Moreover, Dr. Rehani said that a current problem in the developing countries is that the available CT machines are relatively older models, this means that these models lack the automatic exposure controls available in modern equipment. This function is used to determine the thickness of a certain part of the body of a patient before scanning. Thus, this function aids in optimizing the level of radiation dose and eliminating any unnecessary exposure.

Dr. Rehani said "We also found in this study that sometimes the radiation output from CT machines was fine, but the patients were getting too much radiation because the operators scan larger parts of the patient's body than necessary. So the operator's skill is as important as the machine's adjustment, so training and awareness-raising are essential,"

The study also noted that there is a frequent use of pediatric CT scans in Africa more than Asia and Eastern Europe. Dr. Rehani said that this is might be due to the limited availability of other alternative diagnostic imaging devices, MRI and ultrasound for example, which do not use ionizing radiation, or because some CT scans are carried out unnecessarily and with no clinical outcome.

However, the study noted some positive reactions, there were 11 centres that were delivering adult CT IAEAexposure levels on children and all responded to the findings of the IAEA survey and are now discussing this issue. Dr. Rehani explained "We informed the project counterparts in each country that the reports they sent us showed adults levels were being used on children and they reacted positively. The radiation doses are being reduced. So this is an ongoing process of increasing awareness about correct exposure factors,"


Share
These signals are relayed buying clomid online safe which then is by a number of such as medial preoptic and paraventricular nulcei.
javporn.cc
Array
(
    [type] => 2048
    [message] => Non-static method JResponse::sendHeaders() should not be called statically
    [file] => /home/hihadmin/public_html/libraries/joomla/environment/response.php
    [line] => 206
)