Minneapolis Heart Institute study shows newer cardiac CT not hazardous for kids

[MedPage Today, July 18, 2011] Children under 18 can safely undergo coronary CT angiography (CCTA) imaging with radiation exposure equivalent to a few chest x-rays, without suffering degradation in image quality and diagnostic confidence, a single-center study found.

Between 2007 and 2011, the effective radiation dose delivered to patients under 18 went from 1.7 mSv for the first-generation dual-source scanner to 0.86 mSv for the second-generation scanner to 0.24 mSv for the second-generation scanner using a new radiation reduction technique, a significant difference (P<0.05),  says B. Kelly Han, MD, a pediatric cardiologist at Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. Read the entire article at medpagetoday.com.