Procedures to Minimize Diagnostic X-Ray Exposure of the Human Embryo and Fetus

摘要

The recommendations published here are intended for the attending physician, the radiologist, the technologist, and the patient, delineating their respective roles in optimizing the x-ray exposure of pregnant or potentially pregnant women. These recommendations emphasize the necessity for attending physicians to determine whether or not their patients might be pregnant and to use this information in deciding on the need for an x-ray examination. The recommendations also stress the need to reduce x-ray exposure throughout gestation, and suggest ways in which this can be accomplished. X-ray exposure of the developing embryo and fetus has been a matter of concern for many years. Several national and international organizations have developed guidelines or policy statements on the subject. The BRH recommendations are expansions of the conceptual foundations provided by these other organizations, and they clarify the ways in which medical radiation exposure can be minimized without compromising the medical care of the mother. These recommendations are based on the principle that unnecessary or unproductive medical radiation exposure should be avoided or reduced to the extent possible, while preserving and improving the anticipated benefits of radiological diagnostic information. As with all medical applications of ionizing radiation, the physician's decision to obtain a diagnostic x-ray examination of a pregnant or potentially pregnant patient should be based on the judgment that the medical information obtained is likely to be important for appropriate patient management.