The Food and Drug Administration last week issued new guidance urging healthcare providers to “child size” the radiation dose when conducting medical imaging exams on children.
“The level of ionizing radiation from X-ray imaging is generally very low, but can contribute to an increased risk of cancer,” states the FDA guidance. “Because children have longer expected lifetimes ahead of them for potential effects to appear and the risk for cancer is not fully understood, it’s important to use the lowest radiation dose necessary to provide a diagnostic exam.”
