Large study finds CT scans are frequently unnecessary after head injury in children
Monday, May 9, 2011 - 03:01
in Health & Medicine
Overall, roughly half of U.S. children taken to hospital emergency departments (EDs) for a head injury receive a head CT scan, often to ease worried parents' concerns. Yet true traumatic brain injury is uncommon. A multi-center study of more than 40,000 children with minor blunt head trauma, led by Children's Hospital Boston and UC Davis, shows that allowing a period of observation can reduce the use of head CT by as much as half without compromising care and without exposing children to ionizing radiation. Results appear in the June 2011 issue of Pediatrics (published online May 9).