Imaging challenges: a US perspective on controlling exposure to ionizing radiation in children with cancer.

Issues pertaining to control of radiation dose exposures in pediatric imaging are on the forefront of patient care worldwide. Certain factors contribute to appropriate-or inappropriate-use of ionizing radiation in pediatric medical imaging. Such issues include naiveté regarding cancer risk and the role of medical imaging in its development, misinformation about exposure to ionizing radiation, resource availability, staffing, scheduling "snags," costs, limited evidence-based imaging practice information and shrinking funding. These issues will be introduced in this paper.