Answer to Question #7187 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"
Category: Nuclear Medicine Patient Issues — Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine
The following question was answered by an expert in the appropriate field:
Thank you for your question. There is little effect on the ovaries from the low radiation dose from a HIDA scan (or any other low-dose study) for several reasons: (1) the ovaries are not very sensitive to radiation and (2) the ovaries have the ability to repair any mild radiation damage, if it occurred.
Available data from both human experience and animal studies indicate that any damage produced by radiation, even in doses much greater than from routine diagnostic medical texts, is repaired within a few weeks. Even at large doses (greater than diagnostic testing levels), only a fraction of the cells that would later develop into ova were damaged. The probability that one of these few potentially injured cells would produce a child is remote. The overwhelming probability favors no issues from the HIDA scan.
Kelly Classic
Certified Medical Health Physicist