Cancer risk from foot x-rays = nil?

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Interesting website here, to calculate risk of developing cancer following radiological procedures and tests.

Interestingly, it is funded by GE, maker of a large portion of imaging technology.

I punched in the variables for a single series of foot/lower extremity plain films and the additional cancer risk was 0.000%. There was not, however, an option to select CT of the extremities, as this is perhaps the main area of contention with radiation dosing.

So, if we believe GE, a one-off foot/leg series will not add any significant risk to our patients.

Out of interest, I punched in 10 repeat series' for a 10 year old female, and this "additional cancer risk" was 0.003%.

LL

 

I have always been under the impression that the amount of ionising radiation you get exposed to during a foot x-ray is less than you get exposed to on a flight from Sydney to Melbourne. I would have though that the risk is not nil, but its smaller than miniscule.

Despite that risk, there is still the ALARA principle (As Low As Reasonably Achieveable). As damage to DNA from ionising radiation is accumulative, thats no excuse to take a foot x-ray unless the potential for the outcome of the x-ray being to change treatment.