Answer to Question #1455 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Q

Are there any short-term effects of radiation to the radiographers if they don't follow the imaging procedure? If yes, what are they? Are there any risks of cancer? Are there any case studies of it?

A

There is no risk of acute effects from exposure from diagnostic x-ray equipment. There are threshold doses for these effects, generally a few Gy, delivered at high dose rates. Diagnostic equipment will overheat and fail long before delivering doses in this range. There is a theoretical risk of cancer from small doses of radiation, such as might be encountered by radiographers/technologists in the operation of diagnostic equipment. A few old studies show statistically significant associations between occupational exposure and cancer in radiologists. The exposures occurred many years ago, when equipment was much cruder and occupational dose limits were nonexistent. No such associations have been identified from exposures since World War II. I am not aware of any such associations for radiographers from exposure at any time. The risk of cancer is minimal to nonexistent from occupational exposures below current dose limits. Current data show that virtually all radiology personnel can perform their duties while holding their occupational doses well below the limit. The best way to insure that this occurs is for all personnel to wear their personal dose monitors correctly.

S. Julian Gibbs, DDS, PhD