Abstract

Background

In recent years, there has been a movement toward more judicious use of computed tomography (CT) imaging in an attempt to limit exposure of pediatric patients to ionizing radiation. The Image Gently Alliance and like-minded movements began advocating for safe and high-quality pediatric imaging worldwide in the late 2000s.

Objective

In the context of these efforts, we evaluate CT utilization rates in the pediatric emergency department at a major academic medical center.

Materials and methods

We tracked utilization in several categories of CT, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography (US) between July 2008 and June 2017 and compared them with utilization rates from 2000 to 2006.

Results

A total of 4,955 pediatric patients underwent a total of 5,973 CT scans, 2,775 US studies and 293 MRI scans while in the pediatric emergency department during the 2008–2017 study period. We observed decreases in CT scans across all categories, ranging from a 19% decrease in abdominal CT to a 66% decrease in chest CT. Relatively greater decreases in CT scans were observed in patients younger than 3 years of age as compared to older children and adolescents. Abdominal and pelvic US increased. Brain MRI also increased over the final two years of the study.

Conclusion

CT utilization decreased throughout the 2008–2017 study period.

中文翻译：

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在儿科急诊科中使用计算机断层扫描成像。

摘要

背景

近年来，人们正在朝着更加明智地使用计算机断层扫描（CT）成像的方向发展，以试图限制小儿患者接受电离辐射的照射。影像柔和联盟和志趣相投的运动在2000年代后期开始倡导在全球范围内进行安全和高质量的儿科影像学检查。

目的

在这些努力的背景下，我们评估了主要学术医学中心的儿科急诊科的CT利用率。

材料和方法

我们追踪了2008年7月至2017年6月之间CT，磁共振成像（MRI）和超声检查（US）几类的利用率，并将它们与2000年至2006年的利用率进行了比较。

结果

在2008-2017研究期间，在儿科急诊室中，总共有4,955名儿科患者接受了总计5,973项CT扫描，2,775项美国研究和293项MRI扫描。我们观察到所有类别的CT扫描量均下降，从腹部CT下降19％到胸部CT下降66％。与年龄较大的儿童和青少年相比，在3岁以下的患者中CT扫描的下降相对较大。腹部和骨盆US增高。在研究的最后两年中，脑部MRI也有所增加。

结论

在2008-2017年研究期间，CT利用率下降。