| If you are a woman who has ever gotten an X-ray or | | | | not a good idea to get a CT scan on your knee every |
| any other medical scan that requires you to absorb an | | | | month when you visit the doctor except in special |
| amount of radiation, you probably had to sign at least | | | | situations. For pregnant women, the use of radioactive |
| one document stating that you are not pregnant. Next, | | | | imaging should be even more closely regulated and |
| the nurse or doctor in charge of your procedure will | | | | utilized in diagnostics. |
| more than likely ask you again if you have any | | | | Usually, it is safe to get an X-ray while pregnant. |
| suspicions that you are with child. With all of these | | | | Doctors are often able to drape you with a lead-lined |
| precautions, exactly how harmful is radiation for your | | | | cloth to protect your unborn child. Also, the type of |
| unborn baby, anyway? | | | | scan you receive will differ in the actual amount of |
| Radiation-based tests are utilized more and more by | | | | radiation it uses. For example, a dental X-ray exposes |
| doctors and hospitals across the nation because they | | | | you to only 0.01 millirad. A CT scan is at the higher end |
| are quick and accurate. Doctors use these radiology | | | | of the scale, at 800 millirads. |
| practices to find internal bleeding, look for kidney | | | | Let's put this into perspective. During the nine months |
| stones, check for broken bones and tumors, and | | | | of a normal pregnancy, a woman and the baby she is |
| examine blood vessel blockages in the heart, among | | | | carrying receive about 90 to 100 millirads of radiation |
| other things. To diagnose these issues, medical staff | | | | from sunlight. When you consider that it is 10 rads and |
| will submit you to an X-ray, a CT scan, or a type of | | | | above that are shown to cause problems with |
| general nuclear medicine. | | | | fetuses, you would need to get 100,000 dental X-rays |
| In general nuclear medicine, the patient somehow | | | | to possibly harm your baby. However, only a little over |
| ingests a radioactive material either by having it | | | | eight CT scans provides enough rads to hurt your |
| injected into a vein, inhaled, or swallowed. Later, a | | | | baby. |
| special camera or other radiation-detecting device is | | | | Studies have shown that exposure to 10 rads or more |
| placed on the area in question to see if the radioactive | | | | can cause mental retardation and eye defects. |
| material is gathering at the injury, as per usual. Although | | | | Therefore, try to limit the amount of radiation you take |
| this sounds incredibly dangerous, it is actually CT scans | | | | in by waiting to get X-rays and other diagnostic |
| that provide a much larger collective dose of radiation | | | | imaging until after your baby is born, if at all possible. If |
| in proportion to how many are performed. They are | | | | not, you should talk to your doctor about the amount |
| much stronger than X-rays. | | | | of radioactive substance that you will absorb and |
| There is no doubt that these radioactive tests are | | | | possibly pass to your baby. |
| beyond beneficial in diagnostics. However, people | | | | For more information on birth injuries that a baby can |
| should try to avoid them unless necessary. For | | | | undergo, check out this Philadelphia birth injury law firm |
| instance, if you have chronic knee pain, it is probably | | | | today. |