Answer to Question #1022 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Q

Our 15-year-old daughter had a dozen plus x rays 10 months ago—cervical spine with obliques (routine), knee with obliques (routine) (left and right), ankle series (routine) (left and right), foot series (routine) (left and right), elbow (left and right), and arthritic survey (wrists and hands). Could you please estimate how much radiation dose she has received and what are the chances of getting early childhood cancer from these x rays?

A

While all of these x rays sound ominous, they really are not. They were to different areas of the body. Therefore, the radiation exposures involved cannot be added to obtain a total exposure. Large areas of the body received no exposure from these procedures. The x rays taken were low-dose procedures. It takes little exposure to provide an x ray of the hands, wrists, feet, and ankles. There are no radiation-sensitive organs in these areas of the body. The highest exposure was for the cervical spine. That region of the body received approximately one- to two-year's worth of natural background radiation. The knees received about a year's worth of background radiation while everything else was much less. Overall, the exposure your daughter received is only a small fraction of that received from natural background over her 15 years. There is no evidence to indicate that the exposure she received poses any risk of her developing cancer from the radiation involved in the x-ray procedures. If you have further concerns, you should consult your physician, who, I am sure, will tell you that the benefits from the information received from these procedures were large compared to any small risk that might occur from the radiation exposure. Kenneth L. Miller, CHP, CMHP