At a meeting at the recent RSNA 2008 conference in Chicago, the Image Gently Pediatric CT Physics Work Group received formal consensus approval from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) to proceed with its work to establish consistency among CT scanner equipment measuring pediatric radiation dose.
The work group is part of the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging, whose objectives are to reduce pediatric CT radiation dose and make the medical community aware of radiation risk to children. Members of academic, government, and industry organizations initially met on August 20 at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio to discuss how radiation dose displays on CT scanners could be standardized by their manufacturers.
Currently, dose indices are based upon standard phantoms that are models of adult bodies. Dose indices are not consistently displayed on a manufacturer-by-manufacturer basis, which can cause confusion among users.
The AAPM officially approved the method designed to quantify body attenuation as a function of patient size dose metric for a pediatric patient, as proposed by the Image Gently Pediatric CT Physics Work Group responsible for this task.
AAPM representatives also agreed that dosimetry data collection by the work group could take place simultaneously while the AAPM Task Group 111 collects data to create an improved method of performing CT radiation measurements for adults. Data collection by the pediatric work group will begin as scheduled starting January 2009.
"The importance of the decision by the AAPM is that the work on pediatric CT dose estimates will continue without the delay that would have occurred if we were told to wait for Task Group 111 to complete its own project," explained Keith Strauss, Ph.D., a medical physicist at Children's Hospital Boston in Massachusetts and the AAPM representative on the Image Gently physics steering committee.
Also at the RSNA meeting, pediatric radiologists asked the CT vendor representatives from GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Shimadzu Medical Systems North America, Siemens Healthcare, and Toshiba America Medical Systems to consider adding an automated warning system to their current scanners, according to Penny Butler, Ph.D., a medical physicist of the American College of Radiology.
The warning system would alert the technologist if radiographic techniques selected would deliver inappropriately high radiation doses to pediatric patients.
Related Reading
Cincinnati meeting starts long road to harmonizing CT dose displays, September 17, 2008
Meeting to examine pediatric CT dose, August 18, 2008
FDA posts pediatric imaging advisory, June 25, 2008
House resolution advocates lower pediatric x-ray dose, May 27, 2008
CT experts grapple with rising concerns about radiation dose, May 14, 2008
Copyright © 2008 AuntMinnie.com
