A paediatric radiologist is a doctor who is an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, injuries, and diseases of infants, children, and adolescents using imaging techniques and equipment.
What Kind of Training Do Paediatric Radiologists Have?
Paediatric radiologists have the following formal training:
- A degree from a medical school.
- Two years or more of clinical medicine training and 5 or more years of training in diagnostic radiology.
- Often one or more additional years of training in the diagnosis of infants and children using imaging equipment.
What Do Paediatric Radiologists Do?
Paediatric radiologists are experts in selecting the best imaging techniques to diagnose medical and surgical problems. Examples of imaging techniques include x-ray, ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and nuclear medicine. Paediatric radiologists make sure that testing is performed properly and safely. They also interpret the results of the test and make an appropriate diagnosis. Some treatment procedures are guided by imaging. Paediatric radiologists perform or assist the larger clinical team with this.
Where Can I Find A Paediatric Radiologist?
Paediatric radiologists work in many medical settings that have children’s medical services. These include children’s hospitals, district general hospitals, and some private hospitals.
Paediatric Radiologists — The Best Care For Children and Families
Paediatric radiologists are specially trained to understand the unique needs of children, parents, and paediatricians/surgeons in the diagnostic process. They have detailed knowledge of illnesses and medical conditions of infants and children. Their equipment, procedures, and staff are oriented to the special needs of children.
Paediatric radiologists work as part of a diagnostic team along with your paediatrician or paediatric specialist to provide the best possible care for your child.
The following are some useful websites that give details about paediatric radiology examinations
RadiologyInfo
This tells you how various x-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound, radiation therapy and other procedures are performed. It also addresses what you may experience and how to prepare for the exams. All material on the RadiologyInfo.org website is reviewed and approved by experts in the field of radiology from a number of US professional radiology organizations.
Medline Plus
This is a website run by the US National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health. It covers many topics in all aspects of Medicine. There are a number of articles on paediatric imaging.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/diagnosticimaging.html
Image Gently
The image gently Campaign is an initiative of the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging. This is a US-based organisation, as the US radiology community have been much greater users of radiation than the British and European radiology communities. It discusses strategies to promote radiation protection in the imaging of children. There is a section for Parents.
https://www.imagegently.org/Roles-What-can-I-do/Parent/Parent-Information-Website