Thursday, February 3, 2011

Board Review: The Use of CT in Children with Head Trauma

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Originally Published: Modern Resident, Feb/Mar 2011

Original Author: Michael Holman, MSIII
Georgetown University School of Medicine

Submitted by: Rachel Engle, DO, Communications Committee Chair  

Every year, more than 650,000 children are seen in emergency departments across North America for mild head injuries, about half of which will receive CT scans. In fact, in the last decade, the pediatric population saw the largest increase in use of diagnostic CT. It has been estimated that the attributable lifetime risk of death from cancer ranges from 0.065% per head CT in neonates to 0.005% per scan in teens.