X-Rays During Pregnancy

X-rays can hurt an unborn baby. If a baby receives more than 5,000 millirads (or 5 rads) of radiation from X-rays before birth, the baby might have birth defects. The X-rays might affect the baby's genes or cause leukemia. Most X-rays give much smaller doses of radiation than this. There is no general X-ray test that will give you 5,000 millirads of radiation. For example, during an X-ray of the legs, only 1 millirad is absorbed. The baby is at most risk between weeks 8 and 15 of the pregnancy.

Although only a small amount of radiation may be absorbed by your baby, you should avoid getting X-rays when you are or might be pregnant, unless the X-ray is needed to test for a very serious medical problem that could affect the pregnancy or your health. This is why X-ray technologists may ask when you had your last menstrual period or check with a pregnancy test before taking an X-ray. X-ray studies are done during pregnancy only in urgent cases. For example, you may have an X-ray if you have a broken bone, to check for pneumonia, or to look for kidney stones.

When taking an X-ray, the technologist should put a lead apron over your abdomen to protect the baby. However, this may not be possible if the apron will interfere with the necessary views (for example, X-rays of the chest).

There may be other ways to check a part of your body without X-rays. For example, ultrasound machines do not use radiation. Often an ultrasound scan can be done instead of an X-ray. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) also does not use radiation. CT scans do use radiation.

Ask your healthcare provider any questions you have about the use of X-rays during pregnancy.