CT scans to exclude spine fractures in children after negative radiographs may lead to increase in future cancer risk
- PDF / 443,502 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 90 Downloads / 150 Views
ORIGINAL ARTICLE • SPINE - IMAGING
CT scans to exclude spine fractures in children after negative radiographs may lead to increase in future cancer risk Purnajyoti Banerjee1 · Mark Thomas2 Received: 28 August 2018 / Accepted: 6 February 2019 © Springer-Verlag France SAS, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract Introduction National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines recommend computed tomography (CT) scanning for children who fulfill the criteria of significant mechanism or focal spinal pathology. Resulting radiation might subsequently increase the risk of cancer. Methods Children with spinal CT scans and radiographs from August 2015 to July 2017 were reviewed retrospectively. Data were obtained from the formal radiology reports and case notes. The radiation exposure and risk of cancer were estimated. Results Thirty-five children had spine CT scans, and 757 spine radiographs were undertaken. Nine (25%) children had their spines scanned as a part of trauma series due to a severe mechanism of injury. Two patients (6%) had abnormalities in their radiographs prior to CT scans, and the rest were obtained to exclude injuries with negative radiographs. The mean radiation dose from CT scan was 20.3 (SD: 11.3) mSV. The relative risk of missing a spine fracture in a child with a normal radiograph was not statistically significant (RR1.14 95% CI 0.3–4.3 and P = 0.8), and the NNT for detecting a spine fracture with a normal radiograph with further CT scan was 56. The mean lifetime additional cancer risk with CT scan in this group was 0.37%. A significant (P
Data Loading...
