www.xrayrisk.com is a great place to go if you are worried about getting cancer from your trip to the hospital. it tells you the average radiation dose for a given procedure and then calculates the chance that you will get cancer from whatever procedure or procedures you underwent while at the hospital. the site focuses exclusively on cancer and it is unclear how much emphasis it places on the time of the exposure. the calculator does ask for the age of the patient at the time of the exposure which does influence the risk percentage and rightly so. but do the exams lose percentage over time? should they lose percentage over time? cells can repair damage and/or eventually die and get replaced by healthy cells or they can spread their mutation. therefore, should we include an x-ray from five years ago? this does its calculations based upon the lifetime dose exposure calculations which is as accurate as the health care profession can be, just keep the time period in mind while using it.

a few things to keep in mind when using this site: with regard to radiation sickness and genetic mutations, it takes 100 msv to increase the chance of mutation, 250 msv to reduce blood cell count, 1000 msv to begin acute radiation sickness. 2000 msv to produce temporary sterility. if i were to get seventy l-spine exams while i am 28 my dose would 105 msv. that's 70 exams! the chest x-ray is the most common exam performed by any hospital x=ray department, almost everybody gets this exam. the average chest exam is 0.02 msv. the most common ct exam is the brain. the average dose for a ct brain is a mere 2 msv. yes it is a lot more than the average chest x-ray but it is still well below any risk factors. yes, this is proof that a modern x-ray department would really have to work hard to harm you but the risk is still there so you still need to remind your healthcare professional to provide you with a lead shield.

www.xrayrisk.com
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