MITA and Image Gently release joint position paper on interventional x-ray equipment for pediatric patients

Washington, D.C. – The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) and Image Gently today released a joint position paper for manufacturers of interventional X-ray technologies to improve the design of future equipment and imaging protocols for the safety of pediatric patients.

“This paper reflects the hard work of the broader imaging community to reduce radiation exposure received by pediatric patients, while ensuring that these patients benefit from the latest cutting-edge imaging technologies,” said Marilyn Goske, MD, Co-Chair of the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging (sponsors of the Image Gently campaign) and Professor of Radiology and Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). “We are committed to enhancing patient safety by optimizing radiation dose while maintaining diagnostic image quality. We look forward to ongoing collaboration with manufacturers and other stakeholders to expand educational efforts and promote safe and appropriate use of medical imaging.”  

The position paper was developed by MITA’s Fluoroscopy Interventional Working Group in collaboration with Image Gently, a group of 90 medical professional societies and agencies dedicated to radiation protection in pediatric imaging worldwide (sign the Image Gently pledge here). The position paper offers essential questions and insights for engineers and designers of interventional X-ray imaging technologies for pediatric patients (from neonate to 21 years of age) to consider when developing such equipment, with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes, enhancing image quality and managing radiation dose.

“Advanced medical imaging manufactures are committed to identifying pediatric medical imaging solutions to the challenges associated with balancing image quality and patient dose,” said Gail Rodriguez, executive director, MITA. “Historically, modern medicine has treated pediatric patients as though they were simply small adults. Working with our Image Gently partners, we have offered technical considerations and insights in this paper to help ensure that future equipment is designed with the unique biological and anatomical needs of pediatric bodies in mind—allowing even the youngest patients to benefit from the safest, most advanced medical technologies available.”

“The pediatric imaging community is pleased to have the opportunity to work side by side with representatives of all major fluoroscopic interventional manufacturers to develop a better understanding of imaging requirements during pediatric fluoroscopy,” said Keith Strauss, MS, a clinical imaging physicist at CCHMC who coordinated Image Gently’s involvement with MITA representatives. “Hopefully, this document will not only help the design engineers of the imaging companies during future equipment development, but also help medical physicists become more engaged with radiologists and technologists in the configuration and implementation of fluoroscopic imaging equipment in the clinical environment.”

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The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA), a division of NEMA, is the collective voice of medical imaging equipment, radiation therapy and radiopharmaceutical manufacturers, innovators and product developers. It represents companies whose sales comprise more than 90 percent of the global market for medical imaging and radiation therapy technologies. For more information, visit www.medicalimaging.org.Follow MITA on Twitter @MITAToday.