Overall utilization of radiological examinations in pregnant women increased by 121 per cent over ten years while the patient population only rose by seven per cent, a new study shows. Overall utilization of radiological examinations in pregnant women increased by 121 per cent over ten years while the patient population only rose by seven per cent, a new study shows. The greatest increases were in utilization of CT, which also averaged the greatest overall radiation exposure to the fetus.

"Through medical imaging examinations, we are exposing pregnant women to twice the amount of radiation as we did ten years ago," said Elizabeth Lazarus, M.D., assistant professor of diagnostic imaging at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University in Providence, R.I. "Overall, the levels of radiation to which we are exposing pregnant women are low, but they do carry a slight risk of harm to the developing fetus."

The findings were presented this Tuesday at the 2007 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting, in Chicago.

The team performed a retrospective review (1997-2006) of their institution's database to document the utilization of radiological examinations in pregnant women. The examinations were comprised of radiographic plain film (PF), nuclear medicine (NM), and computed tomography (CT) examinations. A total of 5235 exams were performed on 3249 patients during ten years of the study.

The number of patients and examinations increased every year, the authors reported, from 231 patients undergoing 325 examinations in 1997 to 447 patients undergoing 730 examinations in 2006, an 89 per cent increase in patient number and 121 per cent increase in examinations. During the same ten years, the total number of deliveries changed from 8661 to 9261, an increase of only seven per cent.

While the number of PF increased an average of seven per cent per year, and the number of NM examinations increased an average of 12 per cent per year, CT examinations increased an average of 25 per cent per year. During this time period, the number of deliveries stayed nearly static with an average increase of only one per cent per year.

"While performing CT exams during pregnancy is still uncommon, we found that pregnant women are being recommended for CT more often over the last ten years," Dr. Lazarus said. "I want to assure patients that CT can be a safe, effective test for pregnant patients. However, there are alternatives that should at least be explored. Pregnant patients should ask their doctors about other imaging or diagnostic tests that may not expose the fetus to radiation."

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