The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) and Image Gently, a campaign to promote safety and dose awareness among providers of pediatric imaging, have released a joint position paper to help manufacturers of interventional X-ray equipment improve safety protocols for young patients.
“Historically, modern medicine has treated pediatric patients as though they were simply small adults,” said Gail Rodriguez, executive director of MITA. “Working with our Image Gently partners, we have offered technical considerations and insights in this paper to help ensure that future equipment is designed with the unique biological and anatomical needs of pediatric bodies in mind—allowing even the youngest patients to benefit from the safest, most advanced medical technologies available.”
Developed by MITA’s Fluoroscopy Interventional Working Group in collaboration with Image Gently, the paper poses questions and considerations for engineers and designers of interventional X-ray imaging technologies for pediatric patients, including neonates up to 21 year-olds. The associations hope to improve patient outcomes and image quality while limiting radiation dose exposure.
“The pediatric imaging community is pleased to have the opportunity to work side by side with representatives of all major fluoroscopic interventional manufacturers to develop a better understanding of imaging requirements during pediatric fluoroscopy,” said Keith Strauss, a clinical imaging physicist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center who coordinated Image Gently’s involvement with MITA representatives. “Hopefully, this document will not only help the design engineers of the imaging companies during future equipment development, but also help medical physicists become more engaged with radiologists and technologists in the configuration and implementation of fluoroscopic imaging equipment in the clinical environment.”
The paper is available for download on MITA’s website. For more information about Image Gently, review the group’s pledge.
