Ces radiol. 2017, 71(3):192-196 | DOI: 10.55095/CesRadiol2017/026

Remarks on radiation exposure due to diagnostic imaging in cases of suspected child abuse syndromeOriginal article

Simona Paloušová¹, Dáša Chmelová², Zdeněk Hříbal², Martin Kočí², Michal Stark³, Jaromír Hořák²

¹ Nefromed s.r.o., Praha

² Klinika zobrazovacích metod 2. LF UK a FN Motol, Praha

³ Klinika dětské a dospělé ortopedie a traumatologie 2. LF UK a FN v Motol, Praha

Diagnostic imaging plays a substantial role in detection of child abuse. Even in such cases, however, the ionizing radiation exposure should be kept as low as possible. The radiation load in basic protocols created by the British Child Abuse Taskforce, using approx. 40 images, is considered too high and harmful by Prague authors. They suggest a safer basic imaging algorithm starting with the abdomen and brain ultrasound and following up with the skeletal examination. Their basic skeletal protocol (not including the skull images) amounts to only 20% of the radiation exposure that is typical of the double skeletal protocol used by British authors. A further reduction of the radiation dose is achieved by limiting CT and with a preference of MR.
The yield of the imaging methods stays quite satisfactory while the unnecessarily high radiation exposure of the child is avoided.

Keywords: Child abuse and neglect (CAN), radiation load, skeletal trauma

Accepted: September 15, 2017; Published: September 1, 2017  Show citation