Radiation dose reduction in pediatric abdominal CT scanning.

Abstract

A clinical trial was designed to test whether a significantly lower radiation dose technique could be used for pediatric abdominal CT scanning without loss of diagnostic image quality. The study included pediatric patients referred to radiology from the Children's Hospital and clinics at The University of Michigan. Seventy-eight cases were included in the study, 36 cases in the experimental group and 42 in the control group. Patient characteristics in both groups were comparable in every respect except for the technical factors used to expose the pelvis. Patients in the experimental group were scanned with a technique using 80 mAs while those in the control group were scanned with the conventional technique of 240 mAs. Therefore, the radiation dose to the pelvis was three times higher in the control group than in the experimental group. Scans were evaluated by two experienced pediatric radiologists who assessed anatomical details, image resolution and the degree of confidence in reaching a diagnosis. The low-mAs technique did not result in reduction of diagnostic image quality or the confidence in reaching a diagnosis. In conclusion, the radiation dose resulting from pediatric CT of the pelvis may be reduced by a factor of three with equivalent medical benefit.