Medical imaging examination technology is a modern technique that assists physicians in conducting physical condition and disease examinations, mostly achieved through ultrasound, radiation, and other methods. In recent years, the number of children undergoing X-ray examinations has been increasing. However, as children are in a period of complete physical development, they are more affected by radiation. If standardized imaging examinations and radiation protection measures are not carried out, it may have an impact on children's health. So, does imaging examination have any impact on children? How should we protect ourselves medically? The following text will provide specific explanations.
1. The impact of imaging examination on children
Through learning about radiobiology, it is known that mammalian radiation sensitivity follows a general pattern, that is, as individuals develop, their radiation sensitivity will gradually decrease. It is not difficult to see this pattern when applied to children's imaging examinations. Children should have a higher sensitivity to radiation than adults, which also suggests that parents and clinical physicians should be cautious when conducting children's imaging examinations. In addition, radiation-induced carcinogenesis itself is a random effect, and its probability of occurrence is positively correlated with radiation dose, but the severity of the event is not related to dose. Children's internal organs have not yet matured, therefore they have higher sensitivity and risk to radiation in imaging examinations. Children are in a period of vigorous growth and development, while young children are in a period of important organ and tissue development. Accepting unrestricted imaging examinations at this time may lead to functional damage to some highly radiation sensitive tissues, such as thymus, thyroid, gonads, etc., resulting in leukemia, glandular dysfunction, and other problems, seriously endangering children's physical health.
2. Key points for doing a good job in children's imaging examination
2.1 Strictly control the radiation field
The younger the child, the greater the degree of radiation impact. In addition, children with smaller body shapes are more difficult to control the radiation field during imaging examination, which can easily lead to the expansion of the radiation field, causing radiation effects on non examined areas and increasing the risk of radiation damage. Especially when taking photos of children's chest, abdomen, or knee joints, neglecting the issue of irradiation field can easily result in excessive exposure of the child's gonads. The examining physician should strictly control the size of the radiation field for children, and minimize the radiation field as much as possible while meeting the examination requirements, in order to reduce the radiation dose and achieve a certain protective effect.
2.2 Strengthening Radiation Protection
The purpose of children's imaging examination is to understand the detailed situation inside the body. The examining physician should improve their professional competence and operational level, provide necessary radiation to children, reduce the radiation dose while achieving the examination purpose, use legitimate and optimized radiation equipment and conditions, and maximize the protection of children. The examining physician should also do a good job in radiation protection for children, strictly implement the guidance level and dose constraints of medical irradiation, reflect humanized care in parameter adjustment and examination guidance, and develop personalized and optimized irradiation plans for them. At present, high kV photography can effectively optimize the process of children's imaging examination, thereby reducing the radiation dose to children. This photography technique can greatly shorten the time of illumination and shooting, reduce the amount of illumination throughout the entire process, and achieve optimal standards. Physicians should also pay attention to adjusting the focal length to be greater than 80cm when performing X-ray examinations on children, which can help improve the ratio of incident dose to incident dose and reduce the absorbed dose in children. For infants and young children, it is even more important to prepare for photography in advance, such as the photography conditions and location, minimize exposure time, avoid repeated examinations, and ensure the health of infants and young children.
In summary, medical imaging examination technology is an important part of modern medical development and a key means of assisting disease examination and diagnosis. However, due to the critical developmental stage of children's body organs, they are more susceptible to radiation effects and damage. In this regard, the examining physician should strictly follow the imaging examination operation standards, pay attention to the condition of children or infants themselves, reflect the concept of humanized work, strengthen radiation prevention management, and minimize the impact of radiation on children's health as much as possible.