CT use in pregnant women skyrockets at Rhode Island hospital

April 13, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. CT use in pregnant women skyrockets at Rhode Island hospital By Rebekah Moan The CT imaging rate for pregnant women at two hospitals affiliated with Brown University's medical school grew at an explosive 25.3% annual rate from 1997 and 2006, while medical imaging involving ionizing radiation for this population more than doubled. A study that in appeared in March on the online edition of Radiology raised concern among radiologists who have suspected that pregnant women and their fetuses have been exposed to increasing amounts of ionizing radiation because of the growing popularity of CT and nuclear imaging. "This study is a yellow light for radiologists," said Dr. Fergus Coakley, a professor of radiology and biomedical imaging at the University of California, San Francisco.

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