It’s often a concern of parents how their children will be affected by medical imaging equipment specific tests. If it’s X-Rays, MRIs, or CT scans, it’s always a concern for parents. Often times the concern centers around whether or not the children will get claustrophobic, if the radiation is going to be an issue and lastly equipment malfunction. A study conducted by the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center sought out to discover if medical equipment helping diagnose children with complex medical conditions was also creating adverse effects.
It’s after reading something like this that the panic button goes off. A very important consideration centers on factors that were examined in the study. The study itself covered a 7 year period starting in 2004 and extending well into 2011 as far as the information covered was concerned. The study, according to mddionline.com, was done on over 4 million patient admissions over that period of time and on 44 free-standing tertiary care children’s hospitals. Those are big numbers and a fair representation in terms of population, the results and ultimate conclusion do help ease the panic button feeling of danger.
The study revealed which types of equipment are more likely to cause adverse effects in patients. What the study did not uncover is if those adverse effects were caused by factors outside of just equipment itself. Multiple factors such as human error, malfunction, and biological reaction to the devices were not readily identified and could not be accounted for. While there is always a danger to testing, the statistics, fully broken down, are a representation of just a sample of cases. As testing continues to advance chances are that risks will minimize even more. There will always be some sort of risk but it’s worth it if the end result is a healthier, happier, life.
If you have any questions about diagnostic equipment or procedures please give us a call, we would love to talk to you.
Robert Nicholas Serros Jr.
President & CEO
Amber Diagnostics
407-438-7847 ext 1003
www.amberusa.com
References:
http://www.mddionline.com/article/adverse-medical-device-events-involve-children-most-study-shows
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhm.2058/abstract
