Friday, September 18, 2009

Update on CT Overexposure Court Case

If you were previously unaware of this case, there are additional articles linked at the bottom of this one, found on the "Aunt Minnie" website.

This is one reason why the level of professionalism and proper training for entering this field should be held in the highest of standards, not only in school, but throughout our careers after.

I remember training on a similar model when I did CT, and it took about 8 seconds to perform one axial slice, then an additional 8 seconds to reset itself to the original tube travel position. It was a DOS-based computer with very limited capabilities compared to what is out today. There was no audio recording telling the patient to hold their breath or when they could breathe. We had a microphone and had to count to eight every slice before verbally instructing the patient for each breath hold. An abdomen/pelvis scan would often take more than an hour because the tube would overheat on most patients once we got down to the pelvic bone, and each slice would take an exponentially longer wait-time before the heat unit overload would allow us to safely take the next slice. This was outdated equipment eight years ago when I used it, and I'm surprised to hear that it was still in use. Regardless, the technologist has the responsibility to maintain the guidelines of ALARA.

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