Notice
Road and parking lot construction in Madison, Wis. may result in travel delays and route changes to UW Health clinic and hospital locations. Please plan accordingly.Read more
Road and parking lot construction in Madison, Wis. may result in travel delays and route changes to UW Health clinic and hospital locations. Please plan accordingly.Read more
You can have an x-ray or CT if your doctor thinks you need one as a part of your medical care. Your health is important for your baby’s health.
In most cases, these exams are safe during pregnancy. X-ray and CT use a small amount of radiation. This type of radiation can be harmful at high levels, but x-ray and CT rarely reach these high levels.
The risk to your baby from an x-ray or CT is very small. Even so, tell your doctor you are pregnant when talking about an x-ray or CT scan. This helps your doctor select the best option for you.
Don’t worry if you had an x-ray or CT exam before you found out you were pregnant. In fact, for exams that do not include the pelvis, the radiation dose to the baby is much lower than the amount of radiation the baby will receive naturally from the environment. Every person is exposed to some radiation every day. If your pelvis was included, the dose to your baby is still well below a level that may cause concern.
If you have any questions or concerns about your x-ray or CT exam, talk to your health care provider or radiologist before the test.
Tell your doctor if you think you might be pregnant. Nuclear medicine tests are often postponed during pregnancy to reduce any risks to the baby. Sometimes, your doctor and the nuclear medicine doctor feel you still need the test because it is the best way to diagnose your problem. Your doctor will think about:
how many months you are pregnant;
the risks of not getting the information the test can provide.
If you have any questions or concerns about the nuclear medicine test, please talk to the nuclear medicine tech or your doctor before the test.
If you are trying to become pregnant, and you need to have a medical imaging test using radiation, you need to think about the timing of this test in your menstrual cycle. Talk with your healthcare provider about the timing of the test.