JAMA Network | JAMA Pediatrics | The Use of Computed Tomography in Pediatrics and the Associated Radiation Exposure and Estimated Cancer RiskComputed Tomography in Pediatrics

More on radiation risk in kids

JAMA Network | JAMA Pediatrics | The Use of Computed Tomography in Pediatrics and the Associated Radiation Exposure and Estimated Cancer RiskComputed Tomography in Pediatrics

By Joe Elia

Evidence from six health plans adds to data showing that computed tomographic scanning during childhood increases the risk for subsequent tumors. The report appears in JAMA Pediatrics. Using data from the HMO Research Network, researchers accumulated 4.9 million child-years of observation to characterize CT usage. Some 744 pediatric scans chosen at random were used to calculate radiation dosages. On the basis of previous exposure studies, the authors estimate that abdomen/pelvis scans, for example, cause roughly 30 solid tumors per 10,000 scans in girls and about 14 in boys. Radiation doses varied, and reducing the highest 25% of doses to the median could prevent over 40% of the excess cancers, according to the researchers; that strategy, plus eliminating unneeded CT scans (an estimated one third of scans), could prevent almost two thirds of such cancers. Editorialists write that such changes would require a cultural shift "to become more tolerant of clinical diagnoses without confirmatory imaging."