title: Medical conditions associated with the use of CT in children and young adults, Great Britain, 1995-2008.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the medical conditions associated with the use of CT in children or young adults with no previous cancer diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Radiologist reports for scans performed in 1995-2008 in non-cancer patients less than 22 years of age were collected from the radiology information system in 44 hospitals of Great Britain. By semantic search, an automated procedure identified 185 medical conditions within the radiologist reports. Manual validation of a subsample by a paediatric radiologist showed a satisfactory performance of the automatic coding procedure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Medical information was extracted for 37,807 scans; 19.5% scans were performed in children less than 5 years old; 52.0% scans were performed in 2000 or after. Trauma, diseases of the nervous (mainly hydrocephalus) or the circulatory system were each mentioned in 25-30% of scans. Hydrocephalus was mentioned in 19% of all scans, 59% of scans repeated ≥5 times in a year, and was the most frequent condition in children less than 5 years of age. Congenital diseases/malformations, disorders of the musculoskeletal system/connective tissues and infectious or respiratory diseases were each mentioned in 5-10% of scans. Suspicionor diagnosis of benign or malignant tumour was identified in 5% of scans.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study describes the medical conditions that likely underlie the use of CT in children in Great Britain. It shows that patients with hydrocephalus may receive high cumulative radiation exposures from CT in early life, i.e. at ages when they are most sensitive to radiation. Advances in knowledge: The majority of scans were unrelated to cancer suspicion. Repeated scans over time were mainly associated with the management of hydrocephalus.
authors: 1 Radiation Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute (NCI), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors: Neige M
authors: NM
authors: Journy
authors: 2 Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK.
authors: Kieran
authors: K
authors: McHugh
authors: 3 Institute of Health and Society, Sir James Spence Institute, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.|4 NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
authors: Richard W
authors: RW
authors: Harbron
authors: 3 Institute of Health and Society, Sir James Spence Institute, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.|4 NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
authors: Mark S
authors: MS
authors: Pearce
authors: 1 Radiation Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute (NCI), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors: Amy
authors: A
authors: Berrington De Gonzalez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult