Philips also takes a comprehensive approach to training customers - recognizing that it is imperative time is taken to explain the dose saving tools, best practices for pediatric scanning and education and training on CT software features designed for pediatric imaging. Specific pediatric features include a simple, colored-coded menu to select adult or pediatric. When pediatric is chosen, only pediatric protocols are presented to the user; this ensures only the best options are used by the clinician. Typically, customers spend one week at Philips' Cleveland campus for (offsite) training and applications specialists spend one week at the customer's site (onsite). During an onsite training session, every effort is made to ensure pediatric awareness, from the latest information on shielding, dose and protocols. The pediatric protocols from Philips were developed with an exclusive age and weight-based phantom. As part of the offsite component, sessions are structured to educate customers on general pediatric imaging awareness, dosing and shielding. Scan parameters and dose saving tools are explained and demonstrated to the technologists. And, Philips offers CT NetForum and the Philips Learning Center on the Internet that provide ongoing support for new scanning and post-processing information regarding pediatric imaging that is supported by pediatric imaging experts. These experts continually develop leading-edge pediatric protocols, the most recent being cardiac-specific.

It's all in a pledge


Radiologists do play a key role as health care providers for children and radiology and CT scanning is critical in diagnosing illnesses, impacting their treatment and improving patient outcomes. As a matter of fact, it is often the only test that will provide the information needed to optimally treat a child. It is clear that the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to CT scanning children. Yet, one mustn't forget that CT scans are the largest contributor of radiation for humans (NCRP, April 2007). Research indicates that children are more sensitive to radiation and have a lifetime to manifest those changes, and studies from the atomic bomb indicate that even low levels of radiation may cause injury at the DNA level and genetic changes that may impact children's future health.

The key to the Image Gently Campaign is getting doctors to think about how they are using CT. For many radiologists who deal with children daily, lowering the parameters of the scan thereby lowering the radiation dose makes total sense. But for radiologists who are in a busy practice mainly dealing with adults - adjusting protocols to fit a child might be difficult. By visiting imagegently.org, you can download information about how to image gently and you can become one of the thousands of medical professionals who have taken the Image Gently pledge.




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