WASHINGTON, May 7, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Image Gently Alliance, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and a coalition of pediatric medicine and cardiology organizations have launched the "Have-A-Heart" campaign. This multi-society effort would help providers appropriately use and optimize performance of computed tomography (CT), fluoroscopy and nuclear medicine exams in diagnosing and treating heart disease in children. The effort will also equip providers and parents with resources to help them communicate effectively when imaging procedures may (or may not) be the best option to gain proper diagnosis or guide treatment.

The "Have-A-Heart" campaign provides tools and resources to:

Help providers ensure ordering patterns comply with latest evidence-based medical guidelines

Help providers explain to parents/caregivers why an imaging scan is (or is not) necessary
Help parents ask questions to inform decision making if their child is prescribed a cardiac imaging exam
Help imaging professionals understand and optimize exam radiation dose

As part of the Have-A-Heart campaign, Image Gently® — which encompasses more than 100 medical organizations in the United States and worldwide — and 13* additional leading U.S. medical societies recently endorsed "Radiation Safety in Children With Congenital and Acquired Heart Disease: A Scientific Position Statement on Multimodality Dose Optimization from the Image Gently Alliance." The groups urge pediatric imaging stakeholders to review the paper, which was published today in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, and factor the content into both their clinical decision making and conversations with patients and providers.

"This Image Gently Campaign is another opportunity for medical professionals to work together to equip providers with the latest information to guide medical decisions and help parents take an active, informed role in their child's health care. This is an example of what modern medicine is about," said Donald Frush, M.D., chair of the Image Gently Alliance and Image Gently liaison to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Physicians — If you suspect kids may have heart disease or need imaging to inform heart disease treatment, help families make informed decisions.

Know when an imaging test is (and is not) necessary
Explain why a CT scan, fluoroscopy or nuclear medicine exam is (or is not) the right choice
Discuss the benefits as well as the risks of the scan

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