A Comparative Study of Dose Rates on

Radiological imaging is an important part of today’s overall healthcare practicum and chest xrays are the number one exam performed. Imaging can begin as early as the first day of life but only recently have the effects of ionizing radiation on the pediatric population been brought to the forefront. Radiation effects are cumulative and children are more susceptible to cell damage therefore it is important to understand the need to reduce dose within the pediatric population. Non-gridded techniques verse gridded can greatly reduce dose and in most cases non-gridded techniques will reduce dose by half. Positioning children for non-gridded techniques can be challenging, however, for their benefit it is the preferred method when it comes to chest imaging in the pediatric patient. PEDIATRIC CHEST X-RAYS 3 A Comparative Study of Dose Rates on Positioning in Pediatric Chest X-rays “It has been well established that diagnostic x-rays constitute the largest and most widely distributed source of man made radiation exposure to the general population” (Hintenlang, Williams, & Hintenlang, 2002, p. 771). “Medical doses account for approximately 50% of the total United States (US) population dose, and will likely continue to increase for the foreseeable future” (Huda, 2009, p. 335). ‘The frequency of diagnostic radiological examinations for all patients in the US has increased 10-fold since the 1950’s” (Furlow, 2011, p. 421) and “chest radiography is responsible for approximately 30 to 40% of all x-ray examinations performed, regardless of the level of health care delivery” (Schaefer-Prokop, Neitzel, Venema, Uffmann & Prokop, 2008, p. 1818) however in children chest radiography is the most common exam ordered (Freitas & Yoshimura, 2009). According to an article written in The New York Times “a recent study found that by the age of 18, the average child will have already received more than seven radiological exams” (Bogdanich & Rubelo, 2011, February 27). Due to the nature of a child’s rapidly dividing cells children are 10 times more sensitive to the stochastic effects of ionizing radiation than adults, therefore, the risks of developing cancer over a lifetime is greater in children than in adults (Furlow, 2011). The longer an organism is exposed to ionizing radiation the greater the chances are that that organism could possibly develop a cancer. Compounding a child’s radiological sensitivity with an increase in exams over a lifetime; it is imperative to understand that minimizing dose during all radiological examinations in the pediatric patient is of the utmost importance (Maree, Irving & Hering, 2007).