The Image Gently Campaign:
What It Means for Our Patients
One of the joys of being a pediatric radiologist is working with our patients and their families. Both parents and patients can be anxious about an imaging test, even something as simple as a radiograph. Will their son lose the college wrestling scholarship if his elbow is fractured? If the toddler's chest film shows pneumonia, who will stay home with her?
 Marilyn J. Goske, M.D. |
Adding to their anxiety is media coverage of concerns regarding the use of medical radiation for CT examinations—physicians often hear from parents wanting to know what we are doing to address this issue as it pertains to their children.
We now have an answer. Twenty-three organizations, representing more than 500,000 healthcare professionals, have formed the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging. The mantra is to "get the word out" to radiologists, radiologic technologists, physicists and referring physicians to continue to lower radiation dose when performing CT scans on children.
In January 2008 the Alliance launched the Image Gently campaign, designed to collect the many scientific reports and recommendations on radiation protection and distill them into a straightforward message applicable to our daily practice. Now with the addition of the Canadian Association of Radiologists and the Sociedad Latino Americana de Radiologia Pediatrica, this message is going global.
We can look parents in the eye and tell them all these organizations have come together to promote the best care for their child. This may mean their child undergoes a CT scan to diagnose a life-threatening illness or has a repeat X-ray, if indicated, but with the assurance that the lowest dose will be used that still ensures an accurate diagnosis. The key is also working with pediatricians—represented in the alliance by the American Academy of Pediatrics—to ensure each imaging test is the right exam for our pediatric patients.
CT scanning saves lives, but when you image, image gently.
