Feb 6, 2005 12:38 am US/Central
New Technique Helps ID Kids' Broken Bones
(WCCO)
After Trish Lettieri's son Mark took a spill on the playground, an X-ray revealed he fractured his leg.
"He got the cast put on, and he had a cast from the top of his leg all the way to his toes," Lettieri said.
Mark Lettieri's break was a tiny one. Spotting such breaks with a typical X-ray can be difficult. They can even be missed completely.
A computed tomography (CT) scan is a powerful tool used to diagnose disease and look for broken bones. A new, high-tech CT scan is giving doctors clearer three-dimensional views of the body and offering unique help when it comes to treating kids.
"What the CT scan does that the plain films can't do is to show the insides of the bones," said radiologist Kimberly Applegate, M.D.
The 3D images help doctors identify how deep a bone fracture is. They also help doctors to plan better treatment.
"The surgeons are using them to help give advice about further surgeries that may be needed to help the parents and the patients understand what happened," Applegate said.
The new CT scan looks like a conventional CT, but it takes thin multiple image sections of a patient's body with higher speed and higher resolution. A computer puts the image slices together to form a three-dimensional image.
Because the images are produced more quickly, doctors can do thinner imaging with more detail. The faster image production offers added benefits for kids, too.
"In pediatrics, simply the fact that you can do these scans so much more quickly has enabled us to do many more scans without sedation," said radiologist Stephen Brown, M.D.
The new scans can be used to view more than just broken bones. They can examine blood vessels, the heart, the lungs, the colon and the chest. They can even see through casts that are already in place.
Mark Lettieri's leg healed, but his mother was aware that it might not be his last broken bone. Next time, state-of-the-art scanning could be just what the doctor ordered.
(WCCO)
