Prenatal Radiation Exposure (X-rays)

In early pregnancy, the cells of the unborn child are dividing rapidly, and large doses of radiation can be hazardous. Therefore, pregnant women should avoid exposure to x-rays if at all possible. If you've had x-rays, then later discovered that you were pregnant, it's understandable you would be concerned.

The good news is that according to the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), a unborn child exposed to 1 rem of radiation has less than one chance in a thousand of suffering birth defects as a result of the exposure, even if exposed during the most critical stages of development (3 to 8 weeks of pregnancy). The "natural" risk of congenital defect is much greater than any potential added risk from the x-rays.

The risk to the baby is practically nil for the following exposures:

• dental x-rays, even without a lead apron
• diagnostic x-rays of the head, spine, chest or abdomen
• barium enema
• IVP
• living near a nuclear power plant
• working as an x-ray technologist (following good radiation safety guidelines)
• x-rays to the fathers testicles just prior to conception

According to AAPM, "...both the American College of Radiology and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology have adopted a policy that rarely if ever is termination of pregnancy advisable because of the radiation risk arising from diagnostic x-ray examinations."

Source of Technical Information: "A Primer on Low-Level Ionizing Radiation and Its Biological Effects," Published for the American Association of Physicists in Medicine by the American Institute of Physics, AAPM Report No. 18, 335 E. 45th Street, NY, NY 10017, 1986.

For more information on Pregnancy and Radiation, visit the Health Physics Society.