The future of pediatric imaging
A premature infant with sepsis and the tiniest veins receives precisely targeted, lifesaving medications intravenously.
A teen on a bicycle collides with a car and hits his head; in minutes ED physicians learn it’s bleeding on the brain.
Thanks to advances in medical imaging, pediatric patients are receiving faster, more accurate diagnoses, quicker treatments, and experiencing better outcomes. While providers continue to adhere to safe, low-dose imaging protocols, we are also seeing a trend toward finding new care pathways that use ionizing-free modalities.
For example, more clinicians are opting to use point-of-care ultrasound over CT to diagnose appendicitis in children because it’s safer and has a very high accuracy rate. Many pediatric emergency physicians are adopting an ultrasound-first philosophy because it delivers a speedier diagnosis. It’s also less costly, safer, painless, and because children typically have low body fat, it’s easy to acquire very clear images with ultrasound.
