Today I had an upper gi performed on me. The x ray was in the form of a video. When I opened my?

Question

mouth, the mouth consisting of my bones on the screen opened as well. The motion was fluid as if it were a video camera. Is this type of x - ray dangerous? Can it cause cancer?

Answer 1

According to the following website, a UGI (called a Barium Meal there) has a radiation dose of about 300 mREM.

http://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q708.html

For comparision, check out the dose of radiation you get on a yearly basis by just living on the planet Earth!

Radiation Source Average & Annual Whole Body Dose (millirem/year) :

Natural:
Cosmic 29
Terrestrial 29
Radon 200
Internal (K-40, C-14, etc.) 40
Consumer Products 11
All others: Fallout, air travel, occupational, etc. 2
Average annual total 360 millirem/year
Tobacco (if you smoke, add ~280 millirem)

http://web.princeton.edu/sites/ehs/osradtraining/backgroundradiation/background.htm


This is taken directly from a site which has qualified medical personel who are experts in radiation and it's effects. They say:

"QUESTION: I underwent a UGI (upper gastrointestine) exam to detect heartburn. The result was negative. I am a 25-year-old female. I was not pregnant but I am concerned about the genetic effects on my children, my fertility, and my chances of getting cancer.
ANSWER: Since you had an upper GI exam, that means that your ovaries were exposed to a dose of radiation of approximately 100 mrad (Wagner et al. 1997). For genetic risks this is a very small exposure. The data from the atomic bomb survivors who received much higher exposures indicate that genetic risks from radiation directly to the ovaries are very small. This type of exposure would not affect your fertility.

The latent period for solid cancers averages about 20 years, so the risk today from x rays taken within the past few months is negligible. Unfortunately, scientific data is lacking to determine a risk of ovarian or uterine cancer in the future from radiation exposure today. According to the National Research Council (NRC) and its report on health effects of exposure to radiation (NRC 1990), women exposed to high levels of radiation because of radiation therapy treatments did not have ovarian or uterine cancer at a rate any different than the population at large. The only thing the NRC is willing to conclude is that it takes significant doses (>50,000 mrad) to increase the risk.

Kelly Classic
Certified Medical Health Physicist "

http://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q2705.html

And, by the way, the ovaries are one of the most sensitive of all body parts to radiation. So if the UGI exam does not increase the risk of ovarian cancer, the rest of you is very safe.

Wasn't it cool to see an x-ray of your body in motion? This type of x-ray is called fluoroscopy, and it is images of your body in real time.

Answer 2

They are like regular x-rays... you're getting a little more, but upper GIs are very safe. You are not going to get cancer from one exam. You would need to get many, many, many times the amount of radiation that you received before even being concerned.