Answer to Question #15112 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

My six-week-old baby had a small lump on her head. Being a first-time mom, I took her to the doctor. The doctor ordered a complete skull x ray. Thinking it was only one x ray, I allowed the x ray and went into the room with her. They ended up taking five different x-ray images of her skull, which is way more than I thought would be taken. I was told they adjusted the x rays for her age. Her estimated dose was 0.4 millisievert (mSv). Also, my daughter did not have a lead shield on, yet they gave me one to wear. I have been having so much guilt that I exposed her to too much radiation and that the radiation exposure was likely not needed.  

I hope that I can ease your concern and guilt. I am very sorry to hear you had such a scare with your newborn recently. If your physician ordered x rays, then your physician suspected that there was a chance that x rays would be useful in deciding what care to provide next for your daughter. It is great news that the x rays did not show anything suspicious, but that does not mean that you should not have gotten her the x rays. The consequences of not having x rays when a physician orders them can be very serious and even life threatening. You did the right thing by following your doctor's orders.

I am not sure who provided an exposure value of 0.4 mSv, however, based on published information in the Journal of Medical Radiation Science and a paper by Nahangi and Chaparian (2015),I suspect that the exposure was much less than 0.4 mSv. It is likely that the exposure was approximately 10 times less and closer to 0.04 mSv. This is a small dose of radiation, it is like the radiation exposure you would receive flying from Los Angeles, California, to New York, New York. If there is any risk from being exposed to this very low level of radiation, the risk is too small to be measured.

I also want to address your concern about lead aprons. After years of shielding patients during x-ray procedures, it is now common practice not to shield any patients. There are many reasons this shift has occurred. Aprons can increase exposures and interfere with getting good images. Further, the radiation exposures outside the area of interest are very low. So why shield you? There is no benefit of radiation exposure to you while you are in the room with your baby, therefore you are shielded because you are not the patient. I found a children's hospital that addresses lead apron use on their website You can also read an article on discontinuing use of aprons if you would like more information.

Your life is simultaneously exciting, thrilling, and terrifying as a new mom, I remember it well. But I hope that you find comfort in knowing that the small amount of radiation that your daughter received is not going to increase her future chances of developing cancer. If it had been my baby that needed skull x rays at six weeks, I wouldn't have hesitated. I hope this information helps you let go of your concern and guilt; you have lots of other great things to put that emotional energy into instead. If you have additional questions, please feel free to reach out again.

Kendall Berry, MSPH, CMLSO