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19 March 2010

Answer to Question #4749 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Category: Radiation Workers — Pregnant Workers

The following question was answered by an expert in the appropriate field:

I'm a radiologic technologist with a 27-year-old son who has been found to have a low sperm count with low motility and am just wondering if this could be a result of normal occupational exposure to radiation while I was pregnant and working in a hospital radiology department in the late 70s. Back then I rotated through CT, nuclear medicine, angiography, surgery, mammography, and diagnostic radiology. I followed normal precautions; at that time fetal monitoring (with a separate badge) was not used. I hope to become a "grandma" someday. I'm just curious. Thanks for any insight you can give.

Occupational dose limits haven't changed much over the past several decades and are set below radiation exposure levels believed to cause biological effects—for you or your (then) unborn child. I work in the medical environment as well and it is actually pretty rare for anyone to receive radiation exposures that approach those limits so we generally don't have to be concerned about biological effects from occupational exposure. If you also wore lead aprons and such in a procedure room when an x-ray machine was on, that gave even more protection to keep your doses low.

It is unfortunate about the low sperm count. It is unlikely, though, to have been caused by your occupational exposure.

Kelly Classic
Certified Medical Health Physicist

Answer posted on 2 September 2005. The information and material posted on this Web site is intended as general reference information only. Specific facts and circumstances may alter the concepts and applications of materials and information described herein. The information provided is not a substitute for professional advice and should not be relied upon in the absence of such professional advice specific to whatever facts and circumstances are presented in any given situation. Answers are correct at the time they are posted on the Web site. Be advised that over time, some requirements could change, new data could be made available, or Internet links could change. For answers that have been posted for several months or longer, please check the current status of the posted information prior to using the responses for specific applications.