Answer to Question #2669 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Q

Due to severe back pain my chiropractor took a total of five x rays, of which two were for the lower back. At that time I was four weeks pregnant but I was not aware of my pregnancy. Also, before taking the x rays no one explained to me about the effects of radiation. The very next day I came to know about my pregnancy and I heard that x rays will damage the baby. I am worried about the outcome. I want to know what negative effects can take place. I would like to talk to a pregnancy and radiation expert.

A

The dose of radiation you received from two lower-back x rays is very low and the risk of producing a biological effect is also very low. I will use some information from Publication 84 by the International Commission on Radiation Protection on pregnancy and medical radiation to support this conclusion. The ICRP suggests that doses to the embryo or fetus below 10 mGy do not warrant any action and goes farther to estimate the exposure to the fetus from a lower-back x ray at about 1 mGy. When the embryo is exposed to this amount of radiation, there is no increased risk of birth defects or miscarriage. Scientifically, the risks do not warrant any concern. Remember that every normal, healthy woman begins pregnancy with a 3% risk of birth defects and a 15% risk of miscarriage with no radiation exposure. The risk of biological effect from radiation exposure in your case is not much different from someone who received no exposure.

Kelly Classic
Certified Medical Health Physicist