Most hospitals use both CT scanning and cardiac ECHO to
assess the depth of the chest wall defect and its effect on the position
and function of the heart.
Cincinnati
Children’s was one of the first to identify that children were getting
radiation doses six times higher than necessary and that there is an
associated risk of radiation-induced cancer because of excess radiation.
Though most children’s hospitals
caring for children calibrate their CT machines specifically for
children, the surgeons at the Chest Wall Center of Cincinnati, in
collaboration with our radiologists and cardiologists, use a
pectus-specific MRI protocol to evaluate your child’s pectus thereby
totally eliminating the cancer risk associated with radiation.
BENEFITS OF AN MRI VERSUS CT SCAN
- MRI offers a Haller/Pectus index similar to CT scans
- There is no ionizing radiation as there is with a CT scans
- We obtain additional information by safely examining the full chest
- We are able to obtain more detailed profiles of the chest wall dynamics by imaging in three phases of respiration
1. Full inspiration
2. Full expiration
3. Holding the breath
- A limited pectus MRI is very fast (10-15 minutes on the table)
- Cost is similar to the limited pectus CT scan available at Cincinnati Children's
We
are able obtain as much (and if necessary more) information with a
single cardiac MRI than can be obtained with a chest CT scan AND an
echocardiogram used by most other centers caring for children with
pectus.
We believe the cardiac MRI is
superior not only because use of the MRI eliminates ionizing radiation,
but because it is a better tool to assess heart abnormalities. In a
recent study we did in conjunction with the Heart Institute at
Cincinnati Children’s, we found that abnormal cardiac function was found
in some patients with even what many would consider mild to moderate
pectus excavatum.