In 1998 when CT scans were available to fewer doctors, less than 1 percent of these children underwent them. That number has now gone up to 15 percent, according to the Journal Pediatrics.
Experts say there's been no change in the number of children coming in to ERs. And these findings could ring public health alarm bells.
There are increased concerns about how exposure to the kind of radiation emitted by such scans may boost cancer risk.
