Marlboro Park Hospital proudly announces membership in the Image Gently campaign. Image Gently is the educational and awareness campaign created by the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging that was formed in July 2007. It is a coalition of health care organizations dedicated to providing safe, high quality pediatric imaging nationwide while utilizing the lowest possible exposure to x-ray radiation.

If you and a young child went boating, would you give the child an adult sized life jacket? Or would you provide a life jacket that matches the child’s size?

Some facilities that perform CT scans on adults do not use radiation dose reduction techniques when scanning children. You won’t know unless you ask, and it is reasonable and within your rights to do so. Your imaging provider should be able to provide you with information about what they do to reduce radiation doses during CT (such as reducing CT tube output, performing single phase scans, reducing exposure to areas away from the clinical concern, etc.). Other things to ask about include whether the facility has American College of Radiology accreditation, whether the CT technologists are credentialed, and if the person interpreting the studies is a board-certified radiologist or pediatric radiologist.

X-rays are invisible beams of ionizing radiation that pass through the body and are altered by different tissues to create 2-dimensional images of many organs. X-rays of the chest, hand and abdomen are some examples.

What is a CT scan?

CT scans use x-rays generated from a source that is rotated around the body to create 3-dimensional pictures of the body. CT studies can provide critical information for the care of your child, but obtaining the images results in more radiation exposure for the study than a single X-ray.

The staff of the Imaging Department for Marlboro Park Hospital has worked hard the past two months adjusting the amount of radiation required to produce good images for your doctor. Their efforts have reduced radiation exposure an average of 40% – 45%. The radiation for some exams was reduced as much as 60%!

This reduction in radiation exposure is true for children as well as adults because all of the different CT Scan exams were reviewed.

Participating in the Image Gently Campaign is another reason you can trust your local medical provider – Marlboro Park Hospital.