[ RadSafe ] " Children get huge radiation doses, probe finds "

[Franta, Jaroslav]

It seems our  provincial Auditor-General is an HP wannabe....

Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061206.AUDIT06/TPStory/Na
tional
06/12/06
Children get huge radiation doses, probe finds
Report says CT scans exposed youngsters to levels equivalent to 4,000 X-rays
KAREN HOWLETT AND GREG MCARTHUR 

TORONTO -- Children in Ontario undergoing CT scans have been unwittingly
subjected to radiation doses equivalent to more than 4,000 X-rays, levels
high enough to raise cancer fears, the province's Auditor-General says.

In his sweeping annual report yesterday, Jim McCarter said doctors have
underestimated the effects of certain diagnostic imaging tests on patients,
especially children, and have exposed them to levels of radiation that are
believed to cause cancer.

A survey by his office found that 94 per cent of pediatricians who refer a
patient for a CT scan were not aware of the effects of radiation exposure on
a child's body. Studies have shown that, because children's organs are more
sensitive, a single CT scan of a stomach is the equivalent of more than
4,000 X-rays.

<SNIP>

It was Mr. McCarter's probe of the use of CT scans that took him beyond how
taxpayers' money was spent. Over the past 10 years, the number of CT scans
in Ontario has jumped 200 per cent -- and he found that in 50 per cent of
cases at two hospitals that perform pediatric CT scans, radiologists used
inappropriate settings.

<SNIP>





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