Healthcare Technology Featured Article

February 04, 2014

New App Reduces Children CT Scans, but Should Kids Get CT Scans At All?


A new telemedicine app is being marketed with the aim that it will help prevent unnecessary CT scans for children. The idea is that CT scans can be shared among healthcare providers involved in a patient’s care through the use of GlobalMed’s CapSure Cloud app, preventing the need for a second, unnecessary CT scan at a different medical facility.

Based on a National Cancer Institute study published in 2009, it was found that CT scans can cause 29,000 excess cancer cases and 14,500 excess deaths over the lifetime of those exposed. The Institute went on to say, “Children are considerably more sensitive to radiation than adults because of their growing bodies and the rapid pace at which the cells in their bodies divide.”

All of this points to the fact that perhaps children shouldn’t be getting CT scans at all, but what could be the alternative? It’s surprising that with such statistical risks, an alternative to CT scans hasn’t been found for children.

There are a great number of mechanisms operating within the medical industry. In the 2011 movie Puncture starring Chris Evans, this issue was addressed. It’s the true story of a nurse who contracted AIDS after she was accidentally pinpricked by a contaminated needle. Evans plays the lawyer in the film who tries to get a retractable safety needle (which would make it impossible for such accidents to occur) to become the standard in hospitals throughout the country. He finds himself shut down by special interest groups and unable for a long time to get it enacted. Today, retractable safety needles are the standard, due in part to the work that he did.

Until an alternative is found regarding CT scans, though, it does seem important to restrict the number of CT scans that are performed on children.  




Edited by Stefania Viscusi
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