How do I reduce dose in paediatric abdominal CT?
Strategies should include obtaining only necessary CT examinations. MRI and US should take priority. If possible, the examination should be tailored to answer the specific question asked by the referring clinician, for example pelvic scanning is not always necessary when an abdominal scan is requested and it maybe possible to curtail follow-up CT exams to a specific organ. In addition, imaging parameters such as kVp and mAs need to be adjusted for patient size. Size-based tables for abdominal multidetector CT and body CT angiography in children are available [FRUSH, D.P., Review of radiation issues for computed tomography, Seminars in Ultrasound, CT and MRI, 25 1 (2004) 17-24]. In one study, children were classified by colours based on weight and this was shown to significantly reduce scanning errors in settings for paediatric multi-detector CT [FRUSH, D.P., et al., Improved paediatric multi-detector CT using a size-based color-coded format, Am. J. Roentgenol. 178 3 (2002) 721-726]. Re
