The number of computed tomography scans performed on children visiting hospital emergency rooms has increased fivefold in recent years, to 1.65 million in 2008 from 330,000 in 1995, a new study has found. The analysis, published online on Tuesday in the journal Radiology, found that CT scans were performed in almost 6% of all children's emergency department visits in 2008, compared with about 1% in 1995. Scans were most commonly done on children arriving with head injuries, headaches or abdominal pain. The sharp increase in the use of CT scans did not surprise the authors of the report, who said advances in the technology had resulted in improved image quality that can greatly aid diagnosis of childhood ailments. But the scans expose patients to high levels of ionizing radiation that can cause cancer in later years, and radiation is even more harmful for children than for adults.
Stroke-preventing devices are not being tested in people who resemble the patients most likely to receive them, a new study shows. The researchers looked at tests being done as part of "post-market surveillance studies," which test products that are already approved and in general use by the public. They found that patients who had stents placed into their neck in these studies were healthier than other patients in a broader nationwide registry of people who received stents. Yet the patients in the larger registry database who weren't in the post-marketing studies were 50% more likely to have had a stroke in the past, and were four times as likely to die in the hospital.
Surgeons at USC University Hospital accidentally transplanted a kidney into the wrong patient earlier this year because the system used to verify organs was flawed, the head of the transplant program said Tuesday. Once the wrong organ identification number ended up on a key piece of paperwork in the operating room, there was nothing to prevent surgeons from proceeding with the transplant, said Cynthia Herrington, MD, medical director of the USC Transplant Institute. Her comments came as the hospital announced that it was restarting kidney transplants with new safeguards in place, more than two months after closing the program to investigate the Jan. 29 mix-up.
A look at Canadian children's hospitals finds that doctors aren't documenting pain relief for the majority of painful or uncomfortable procedures kids experience in the hospital. For seven out of every 10 procedures -- things like blood sampling and inserting or removing intravenous lines and catheters -- children received no pain treatment specific to that procedure, although eight out of 10 procedures were done within 24 hours of some pain relief. "Our worry is that (children) are getting painful procedures without any pain management," said Bonnie Stevens, MD, the lead researcher on the study and a professor at the University of Toronto. Stevens and her colleagues collected data from eight children's hospitals over a 6-month period.
Sutter Amador Hospital in Jackson, CA has temporarily relocated its pediatric clinic while it explores employee concerns about possible exposure to radiation from the hospital's radiology department. Clinic personnel have expressed concern that "recent health issues" have been caused by radiation from the first-floor radiology department, which is situated just below the second-floor pediatric clinic, according to a Sutter news release. Sutter spokeswoman Jody Boetzer said that "there were concerns of thyroid cancer." Boetzer said she could not confirm whether any employees of the pediatric center have thyroid cancer. All concerns voiced to the hospital about possible radiation exposure have come from pediatric clinic personnel, Boetzer said.
A Hartland, WI medical products manufacturer ceased production Monday after the U.S. Marshals Service arrived to seize materials. H&P Industries, which makes alcohol wipes and other products distributed by Triad Group, has been under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration for bacterial contamination issues. Triad Group has been sued by a Texas couple who blame the firm for the death of their 2-year-old son. In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Houston, Shanoop and Sandra Kothari say an alcohol wipe from the company was the likely source of bacterial meningitis that killed their son, Harry, in November. Last week, the FDA asked H&P Industries to voluntarily stop production of its drug products.