Survey of paediatric CT practice in Shanghai from four hospitals during 2011-2014

Objective To study the the application characteristics of paediatric CT examination by investigating four main children′s hospital of Shanghai. Methods All the CT scan cases of paediatric patients in this work were obtained from the radiology information system (RIS) database in four hospitals between 2011 and 2014. The distribution of using CT scans was analysed according to the age, gender, anatomical regions and the duplicated cases of the patient, then estimated the paediatric CT scan rates of four hospitals in Shanghai. Results Retrospective review of RIS showed 249 350 CT examinations from 175 672 young patients were performed between 2011 and 2014 in the surveyed hospitals. More males (62%) were scanned than females (38%). The majority of children receiving the examinations were 1 to 5 years old, which amounted to 40.3% in all. Cardiac CT accounted for 14.5% among all children of ≤1 year old CTs and accounted for 63.0% among all cardiac CT scans. There were 33 634 (19.1%) individuals who had received 2 or more CT scans during the four years. The estimated paediatric CT scan frequencies of four hospitals in Shanghai from 2011 to 2014 were 37.9 examinations per 1 000 population in 2011, 43.3 examinations per 1 000 population in 2012, 43.3 examinations per 1 000 population in 2013 and 39.0 examinations per 1 000 population in 2014. Conclusions The CT scan frequencies of four hospitals in children and young adults was almost keeping stable in Shanghai. Key words: Paediatric; CT examination; Frequency; Shanghai