Estimation of Lifetime Attributable Risk (LAR) of Cancer Associated with Chest Computed Tomography Procedures in Children

The danger of radiation at low doses continues linearly, and without a threshold, investigations concluded that although the risk of cancer from Computed Tomography (CT) scans is low, it is not zero. This study aims to determine the patient's radiation dose and estimate the Lifetime Attributable Risk (LAR) of cancer incidence for a single chest CT scan in children

We divided 1,105 children into four age groups: 0 years, 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years. Dosimetric data of chest CT scan were plugged in VirtualDoseCT software, and organ dose and effective dose were calculated. The cancer risk based on organ dose is estimated according to the BEIR VII report.

The highest dose in boys was related to lung (5.13 - 6.8 mSv) and heart (5.27-5.97 mSv), and in girls, lung (4.98 - 5.91 mSv), breast (4.24 - 5.21 mSv), and heart (4.9 - 5.71 mSv) had the highest dose. The highest LAR (per 100,000) was obtained for the breast in the age group of 0 years (61.01), followed by the breast for the age group of 5 years (46.16) and lung in the age group of 0 years (43.32) in girls.

This study shows a better concept of radiation dose in the chest CT scan in children and how much effective dose and organ dose values increase the cancer risk.