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How Yale doctors are making CT scans safer for kids

By Guest PostSeptember 15, 2013Healthappendicitis, computerized tomography, cordelia carter, ct scans, head injury, lei chen, mri, pediatric ct scans, pediatric imaging, radiation, radiation safety, rob goodman, yale doctors, ynhch

Greater awareness and careful usage are bringing down the numbers of pediatric CT scans and cutting radiation exposure. Parents should weigh the benefits and risks.

(September 2013) If your child had a CT scan last year—perhaps to assess damage from a hockey injury or rule out appendicitis—he or she added to a huge statistic: more than 4 million pediatric CT scans were performed in the U.S in 2012.

The experience can leave you a little anxious, since the radiation from a CT scan may increase the risk of cancer, especially in children.

Fortunately, that picture may be changing, especially for children, who are even more susceptible to radiation-induced cancer than adults. In data compiled by the American College of Radiology’s Dose Index Registry, which tracks and categorizes the radiation given by CT scanners in U.S. hospitals, Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital (YNHCH) recorded the lowest doses of any academic hospital in the country in many age groups and types of pediatric radiation. (more…)

Mild Brain Cooling after Head Injury Prevents Epileptic Seizures in Lab Study

By Guest PostDecember 25, 2012Healthannals of neurology, antiepileptic drugs, brain, brain damage, chronic, epilepsy, epileptic seizures, genetics, hallmark of epilepsy, head injury, inflammation, intracranial eeg, jeffrey g ojemann, john w miller, matthew d smyth, mechanisms, mild cooling, mock cooling, nancy r temkin, neuronal activity, peltier cells, raimondo d ambrosio, recurrent seizures, refrigeration, rodent model, spontaneous, steven m rothman, traumatic head injury

Mild cooling of the brain after a head injury prevents the later development of epileptic seizures, according to an animal study reported this month in the Annals of Neurology.

Epilepsy can result from genetics or brain damage. Traumatic head injury is the leading cause of acquired epilepsy in young adults. It is often difficult to manage with antiepileptic drugs. The mechanisms behind the onset of epileptic seizures after brain injury are not known . There is currently no treatment to cure it, prevent it, or even limit its severity. (more…)

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How Yale doctors are making CT scans safer for kids

Mild Brain Cooling after Head Injury Prevents Epileptic Seizures in Lab Study