ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) CT 2011—executive summary

Abstract

In August of 2001, under the guidance of Dr. Tom Slovis, the Society for Pediatric Radiology (SPR) organized the first of an ongoing series of multidisciplinary conferences to discuss current dose issues in pediatric imaging. This first meeting was dedicated to ALARA CT in children [1]. Since then there have been several additional, wellattended, SPR-sponsored ALARA conferences including computed/digital radiography [2], fluoroscopy and interventional radiology [3], emergency medicine [4] and oncology [5]. After a decade we have now come full circle back to CT. The sixth overall ALARA conference, and second ALARA CT conference, organized by Drs. Beverley Newman and Michael Callahan with the help of a superb group of advisers and the indispensable administrative assistance of Karen Schmitt, was held in Dallas, Texas, on March 5–6, 2011, sponsored by the SPR and ACR. Generous financial support for the conference was provided by GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, and Toshiba AmericaMedical Systems. There were 15 course faculty members, including 12 radiologists, 2 medical physicists, and one pediatric emergency medicine physician. There were 130 attendees, including physicians, technologists, physicists and trainees. The conference consisted of six individual sessions, each with its own theme relevant to pediatric CT imaging and radiation dose. There were two lunch and dinner corporate educational sessions representing the four sponsoring vendors, who were each asked to address their approach to problems and solutions regarding dose reduction and ALARA CT in children. The 2011 ALARA CT conference provided an international forum for the presentation of current, clinically relevant issues related to the practice of pediatric CT imaging. This supplement to the Pediatric Radiology journal contains peer-reviewed manuscripts from the material presented at the 2011 ALARA CT conference.