Children with head injuries may often get a CT scan to rule out major head injuries. But a study states that doctors should avoid CT scan in minor head injuries and instead try observation to be on a safer side.
Getting a CT scan done may expose children to higher levels of harmful radiations which can increase the risk of cancer. Hence to avoid this, the study researchers suggest some alterations in children with minor head injuries. The researchers examined more than 40,000 children treated for minor head trauma at 25 U.S ERs from June 2004 to September 2006. The researchers found that four to six hours of clinical observation can reduce the possibility of a CT scan.
"There is an increased awareness that a CT scan is not always needed. An effective strategy is observing the child's symptoms over time and, if they improve, don't do a CT," said study co-leader Dr. Lise E. Nigrovic, of Children's Hospital Boston. The study was published on May 9, 2011 in the Journal Pediatrics and the median age of the children examined was 5.6 years for the study.
According to the guidelines given by the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN), CT scans can be used for high risk cases and those include certain falls, getting struck by any object, or getting injured in a vehicle accidents. PECARN also mentions low risk cases as those where the child can be sent home without a CT scan.
"We use CT scans for high-risk cases because we don't want to miss a brain injury. But if a 3-year-old girl with a headache or vomiting can stay in the ER and be monitored, and if after four hours the symptoms are gone, that's great. She can go home," said Nigrovic.
"CT scanning is a very powerful tool for ERs, but we have to be wiser as to which patient needs the neuro-imaging," added Nigrovic.
