Answer to Question #2083 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Q

My husband is a cardiologist and works in a cardiac catheterization laboratory. He takes part in about 10 to 12 catheterizations per day and 6 PTCAs per week. Is it safe to get pregnant? Is there a risk for teratogenesis?

A

You ask whether it is safe to get pregnant because your husband is exposed to radiation during cardiac catheterization. You are asking about the genetic risks of radiation to a father's sperm before fertilization. Actually, in your case the risks are very small. First of all, your husband's exposure to his testes is very small. Your risks for having a child with a genetic disease due to your husband's irradiation are far below the risk of inheriting a genetic disease already present in your genes or resulting from a spontaneous mutation that occurs in a low frequency in all of us. I understand your concern and I will try to explain why your anxiety and concern is not warranted in your present situation. The "scatter" that might reach the scrotum would be extremely small and would not represent an increased risk for birth defects or miscarriage to your embryo. The most important characteristic of x rays that concerns us is the dose. You may not know that we ourselves are radioactive and we are exposed to many sources of natural radiation that we cannot avoid. If you are healthy and young and have no reproductive problems or family history of reproductive problems your risk for birth defects is 3% and for miscarriage, 15%. Neither you nor I can change that risk which all mothers have when they begin a pregnancy. Good luck with your pregnancy.

Robert L. Brent MD, PhD