My area of study is prevention of newborn falls. Some physicians order a CT scan after a fall, but that raises the risk of cancer. Would a MRI work as well?
Dear Rose,
CT scan is the test of choice to evaluate for the four types of intracranial hemorrhage (subdural, epidural, intracerebral, or subarachnoid) bleeding in the brain, swelling of the brain during the first 24 to 48 hours after injury, or to detect a skull fracture because it is faster, more cost-effective, and easier to perform than an MRI. No test, however, currently available is sensitive and specific enough to diagnose all intracranial injuries.
An MRI may be more appropriate if imaging is needed 48 hours or longer after an injury to evaluate persistent or worsening symptoms or where there is a concern for underlying pre-existing conditions (eg. headache or seizure disorder, arteriovenous malformation, Chiari malformation, etc.) and is best coordinated through your physician or the specialist evaluating your child.
Further, MRI is viewed as superior in detecting traumatic lesions of the brain, and does not expose patients to radiation.
Thank you. Can you tell me more about the effects of radiation on the newborn?
Rose Mary
Dear Jessica,
Neview literature on risk models.ot an easy question to answer. You need to r
Worth a review:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13566-012-0086-z
Many thanks,
Johnathan
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Physical Sciences
- Physical Phenomena
- Luminescence
- Fluorescence