Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Radiation Exposure Of Pregnant Women More Than Doubles In 10 Years

The past decade has seen an unprecedented increase in the use of radiologic exams on pregnant women, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

"Through medical imaging examinations, we are exposing pregnant women to twice the amount of radiation as we did 10 years ago," said Elizabeth Lazarus, M.D., assistant professor of diagnostic imaging at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University in Providence, R.I. "Overall, the levels of radiation to which we are exposing pregnant women are low, but they do carry a slight risk of harm to the developing fetus."

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