Chapter 3: Pediatrics and small patients
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Chapter 3: Pediatrics and small patients
GE Healthcare strongly suggests reducing radiation dose to As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) in
all patients, especially pediatric and small patients, whenever it is determined that an x-ray is necessary.
X-ray is an extremely valuable tool for diagnosing injury and disease, but its use is not without risk. This
section discusses the importance of minimizing the radiation dose in children and small adults consistent
with ALARA principles.
Topics covered include:
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Optimize Pediatric Protocols for your facility
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Pediatric Use
Radiation exposure is a concern in both adults and children. However, children are more sensitive to
radiation. Using the same exposure parameters on a child as used on an adult may result in larger doses
to the child. X-ray settings can be adjusted to reduce dose significantly while maintaining diagnostic
image quality.
Optimize Pediatric Protocols for your facility
The protocols supplied with the system represent examples for procedures commonly conducted in
radiography. Based on the needs of a particular practice, these protocols may be modified to optimize
factors such as image quality or dose reduction.
Work with your team of Radiologists, Medical Physicists and Technologists to evaluate techniques that
may reduce radiation dose and provide adequate diagnostic information. In addition to the
recommended protocols installed on your system and suggestions in this guide, the following websites
offer excellent sources of additional information on how to optimize protocols:
• American College of Radiology (ACR):
www.acr.org
• Society of Pediatric Radiology (SPR):
www.pedrad.org
• National Cancer Institute (NCI):
www.nci.nih.gov/aboutnci
• Image Gently:
www.imagegently.org
• US Food and Drug Administration (FDA):
www.fda.gov