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Radiology

Significant Accomplishments

Radiation Dose Reduction − Image Gently

Medical imaging using ionizing radiation has increased fivefold since 1986 in the United States. This poses a potential health risk to the pediatric population, especially when children are imaged using an adult dose rather than a child-sized dose. The Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging was formed in 2007, led by one of our radiology faculty, to help improve safety. The alliance now involves more than 62 organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization. The mission of the Image Gently campaign is to promote radiation protection worldwide and to improve safety through education, awareness and advocacy. The alliance sponsors a widely used website (www.imagegently.org) that contains free instructional materials for medical professionals and parents. Many Cincinnati Children’s radiology faculty are involved in this initiative to decrease radiation exposure to children undergoing X-rays, CT scans, fluoroscopy, interventional procedures and nuclear medicine procedures. The campaign has been recognized by the Food and Drug Administration and has worked with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to child-size the radiation dose in CT scans for children. Recently, an adult campaign was created, “Image Wisely,” sponsored by the Radiological Society of North America and the American College of Radiology.

New Neonate MRI

Imaging scientists in the Department of Radiology have developed a new type of magnetic resonance (MR) scanner for premature babies. The new scanner combines a small magnet designed for adult orthopaedic use, with state-of-the-art imaging electronics, custom-built patient handling systems and an MR-compatible incubator. It is lighter, less expensive and has a much smaller footprint than conventional MR scanners, without compromising imaging performance. It is small enough to place inside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and overcomes the logistical challenges of moving fragile babies between the NICU and the Radiology Department. Early results with the research prototype system were presented in the 2011 meeting of the Joint Societies of Pediatric Radiology in London, where our team won the Caffey Award for best basic science paper. Installation of a second scanner in the NICU is scheduled for the end of 2011. This clinical scanner will be used for routine imaging and groundbreaking clinical research with colleagues from the Perinatal Institute and the Division of Developmental Biology. This new approach to neonatal MRI promises to provide premature babies routine access to the full breadth of modern MR, and will offer new objective metrics for patient management of many clinical conditions.

Report Turnaround Times Reduced

Multiple IT initiatives have been developed and implemented to improve report turnaround times. These include implementation of 24/7 overnight faculty coverage and use of standardized reports. Our current average turnaround time for Emergency Department and stat films is less than 30 minutes. In addition, a real-time radiology dashboard was created to track turnaround times, volumes of undictated and dictated studies, as well as days since the last MRI safety incident.