If you are a woman who has ever gotten an X-ray or any other medical scan that requires you to absorb an amount of radiation, you probably had to sign at least one document stating that you are not pregnant. Next, the nurse or doctor in charge of your procedure will more than likely ask you again if you have any suspicions that you are with child. With all of these precautions, exactly how harmful is radiation for your unborn baby, anyway?

Radiation-based tests are utilized more and more by doctors and hospitals across the nation because they are quick and accurate. Doctors use these radiology practices to find internal bleeding, look for kidney stones, check for broken bones and tumors, and examine blood vessel blockages in the heart, among other things. To diagnose these issues, medical staff will submit you to an X-ray, a CT scan, or a type of general nuclear medicine.

In general nuclear medicine, the patient somehow ingests a radioactive material either by having it injected into a vein, inhaled, or swallowed. Later, a special camera or other radiation-detecting device is placed on the area in question to see if the radioactive material is gathering at the injury, as per usual. Although this sounds incredibly dangerous, it is actually CT scans that provide a much larger collective dose of radiation in proportion to how many are performed. They are much stronger than X-rays.

There is no doubt that these radioactive tests are beyond beneficial in diagnostics. However, people should try to avoid them unless necessary. For instance, if you have chronic knee pain, it is probably not a good idea to get a CT scan on your knee every month when you visit the doctor except in special situations. For pregnant women, the use of radioactive imaging should be even more closely regulated and utilized in diagnostics.

Usually, it is safe to get an X-ray while pregnant. Doctors are often able to drape you with a lead-lined cloth to protect your unborn child. Also, the type of scan you receive will differ in the actual amount of radiation it uses. For example, a dental X-ray exposes you to only 0.01 millirad. A CT scan is at the higher end of the scale, at 800 millirads.

Let's put this into perspective. During the nine months of a normal pregnancy, a woman and the baby she is carrying receive about 90 to 100 millirads of radiation from sunlight. When you consider that it is 10 rads and above that are shown to cause problems with fetuses, you would need to get 100,000 dental X-rays to possibly harm your baby. However, only a little over eight CT scans provides enough rads to hurt your baby.

Studies have shown that exposure to 10 rads or more can cause mental retardation and eye defects. Therefore, try to limit the amount of radiation you take in by waiting to get X-rays and other diagnostic imaging until after your baby is born, if at all possible. If not, you should talk to your doctor about the amount of radioactive substance that you will absorb and possibly pass to your baby.

For more information on birth injuries that a baby can undergo, check out this Philadelphia birth injury law firm today.