Well, I cannot tell you anything about it personally but there’s a close friend of mine that have had a couple of scans done while she was pregnant (I guess that the last one was when she was 20 weeks pregnant) and she was warned that there is a pretty small chance that her baby could be harmed but they are not able to tell in what way exactly. She was forced to have those scans done due to the fact that she was having a pretty good chance that she was having a brain hemorrhage. Anyway, having that said, it was nearly 3 years ago and her little boy is now 2 years old and he is completely fine. Here is why I have found for you:
“The question was: Hi, I am now 8 weeks pregnant but in the beginning of my pregnancy, when I was about 2 weeks old, I have had couple of abdominal x ray as well as a ct scan that have been done on my abdomen. I have been searching info about it and I found out that the risk of damaging my baby from the abdominal x ray is pretty low, but I would like to know how about the ct scan? What are the possible damages that can occur (if there are any) from the ct scan? And if you could explain the x ray damage either.
The answer was: we have answered the person who posted this question that the conceptus dose from such a ct examination is anywhere between 12 mgy and 30 mgy (1.2 rad and 3 rad) according to the exposure of the pregnant patient to diagnose radiations (Madison, wisconsin, medical physics publishing). But, we have warned her that the precise dose is mainly depending on the techniques used, on the machine, on the size of the patient etc. we have noted that the national council on radiation protection of 1977 year have pointed out: the risk (of some abnormalities) is believed to be negligible when used 5 rad or less when compared to some other risks of pregnancy as well as the risk of malformations is pretty much increased above control levels only at doses above 15 rad. Thereby, exposing the fetus to the radiation arising from the diagnostic procedures would be extremely rarely a cause, by itself, for terminating the pregnancy. We have suggested the patient to get some exact info about the dose of the conceptus from the procedure that she has had and in case she would have some other questions, she can personally talk with our expert on the radiation exposures during the pregnancy.
The answer to this was: thank you a lot for your info. I am now feeling a lot more reassured. I have been searching info all over the internet about the ct scans during the pregnancy and I have found only your site. “
As much as I think, this was pretty long time ago. anyway, all the things are pointing out that your baby is fine and there is nearly no risk at all that your baby got damaged from either the CT scan or the X ray. I would suggest you to talk with your doc. in case you are worried. If that’s still not enough then you can go to the place where you have had CT scan and X ray and ask them about the techniques used, about the machine and about the rad they used. Ask those people working there about the risks and damages. They should know better. after all, if those people who have done these scans told you nothing (when they knew that you were pregnant) then there’s nothing. If there would be something, then they would tell you, I guess. My friend’s baby is alright. I assume that yours will be too. really hope that this will bring peace to your mind and I wish you best of luck to both of you. I’m pretty sure that everything is going to be alright with your baby. Just protect him or her from other factors, love him or her and try to reduce your stress level (stress is causing a lot of stress).
