Protecting Children from Radiation Overexposure

The following is a guest post from John MacKenzie, M.D., Chief of Pediatric Radiology, Assistant Professor in Residence.

A recent study about radiation exposure in children caught my attention, and I thought I’d share some thoughts with you regarding pediatric CT practices here at UCSF.

The Pediatric Radiology section and the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at UCSF are dedicated to minimizing the amount of radiation delivered to children while maintaining acceptable image quality for accurate diagnosis. We use low radiation dose imaging protocols to match the particular CT study with the child’s unique size and body composition.

We have several unique strategies to protect children including placing shields over sensitive areas/organs and focusing on scanning the target area. Our CT scans are tailored to the size of the child and area to be imaged with the goal of minimizing the radiation dose delivered to patients. We also use CT technology that automatically adjusts the radiation delivered during the course of the study. Our goal is provide the best imaging care for children while using the lowest possible amount of radiation.

More information can be found at here.