Radiation Risks

Being exposed to very big doses of radiation is known to be harmful, for example the sun’s radiation can cause skin cancer.

However for any imaging test, the person is exposed to the minimum amount of radiation required to get the image.

The risks of the exposure to radiation are usually outweighed by the benefits to health of the information the scan can provide.

Pregnant women can have a CXR or Chest CT scan as it does not usually cause your baby any harm because the baby is not being exposed to radiation.

However, the same principle applies in that the benefits to health of the mother usually outweighs risks of exposing the developing baby to radiation as the baby needs a healthy mother to thrive.
Childhood cancer is very rare in children exposed to radiation before birth.