Despite its vital roles in diagnosis and treatment, the radiation is harmful to humans—and a constant concern for clinicians and patients, especially when those patients are children.  

A recent article published by The New York Times addressees this concern in exploring how using CT scans to evaluate head trauma in children may not be safest diagnostic approach. But then, what is?   

As public concern grows regarding the correlation between concussions and its impact on the structure and functioning of a child's brain, the author of the article Perri Klass, MD, asserts that clinicians must have concrete reasoning as to why using radiation on the child is necessary.  

"If you’re giving a child a significant dose of possibly dangerous radiation, you need to have some evidence that you may actually be doing something necessary for that child’s safety," Klass said.  

Read Klass's entire article here.