Purpose or Case Report: Pediatric patients five years and younger often require sedation to successfully complete CT imaging of the thorax and/or abdomen/pelvis. Sedation of pediatric patients poses certain risks and should be avoided when possible. In August of 2017, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta installed a new CT scanner – a Siemens SOMATOM Force. The SOMATOM Force posesses a Turbo Flash mode which results in sub second scan times for CT imaging of the thorax and/or abdomen/pelvis.

Methods & Materials: Historically, patients that are five years and younger are often sedated for CT exams of the thorax and/or abdomen/pelvis. In August, 2017, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta installed a Siemens SOMATOM Force CT scanner, capable of imaging the thorax and/or abdomen/pelvis with scan times averaging 0.56 seconds. To identify a decrease in sedations after the installation of the SOMATOM Force, we analyzed sedation percentages before the installation to the sedation percentages after installation. A report was created within our EMR system to identify patients five years and younger that received CT imaging of the thorax and/or abdomen/pelvis. An additional report was generated by the sedation physicians’ data regarding the number of sedations for the same time reference. These reports were analyzed and compared to generate the overall percentage of sedations.

Results: Four months of data prior to the installation of the Siemens SOMATOM Force revealed sedation percentages on an average of 34.5% of patients aged five years and younger. The first full month after installation of the Siemens SOMATOM Force revealed a decrease in sedations to 15% of patients aged five years and younger.

Conclusions: Installation of the Siemens SOMATOM Force at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite has resulted in a decrease in the sedation of patients five years and younger receiving CT imaging of the thorax and/or abdomen/pelvis.