x-Ray

Hi All,

My son is 20 Mths and has a pacemaker.Everytime we take him for check ups 3Mts time he has to take an X-ray to view his device and leads to ensure everything is okay.

Having X-rays done every three mths,Is this safe for him?

Appreciate your response...

6 Comments

X-Rays

by Pacemum - 2014-01-09 04:01:13

Here in the UK they do not x-ray at every pacemaker appointment. They will x-ray to check the position and length of wires left on occasions when the battery is nearly due for replacement or if they feel that there may be a problem.

My daughter has had more x-rays for broken bones then for pacemaker related issues.

Is it normal for your son to be on appointments every 3 months or has the time between appointments been reduced? Normally my daughter has appointments every 6 months however when the battery gets down to a single year of mimium battery life we are reduced down to every 3 months. If she is due to have any other medical work done then the pacemaker appointments may also be reduced.

Question

by Grateful Heart - 2014-01-09 12:01:05

What are they looking for with that many X-Rays regarding a pacemaker? Leads that moved....or am I missing something?

My comment was based on nato's posting when she wrote "Everytime we take him for check ups 3Mts time he has to take an X-ray to view his device and leads to ensure everything is okay".

This doesn't sound like X-Ray Therapy.....more like a monitoring measure.

Grateful Heart

Good Info

by csmith - 2014-01-09 12:01:07

Though we want to reduce exposure through x-ray you may find some reassuring information on this site!

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/219970.php

We are all exposed to radiation daily - a chest x-ray is 2.4 days worth of natural background radiation in one hit! in comparison to a CT abdomen at 2.7 Years!

How Safe are X-Rays?

by donr - 2014-01-09 12:01:27

It depends on how often & how many & the quality of the X-Ray system.

Something about X-ray hazards has obviously grabbed your attention so I am not going to just give you a simple YES or NO answer.

Let's start out by saying that X-Rays are inherently hazardous. If they weren't - why would X-Ray Techs wear badges to determine how much radiation they are exposed to? Why else would they go behind a shielding wall when they expose the patient? Why do people who undertake X-Ray therapy for cancer get sick from the radiation?

Answer - because X-Rays damage cells.

X-Rays are a way of life for post 19th Century humans in developed countries. They allow Dr's to determine what is going on inside the body for diagnostic & therapeutic work. Without them, we would not have the health care capabilities we have.

Collectively, we have made the decision that the relative risk to INDIVIDUAL people is far less then the benefit X-Rays provide.

The past few yrs have seen the development of significantly more sensitive recording media (Film & its alternatives), reducing the amount of radiation a person is subjected to in a lifetime, hence reducing the cumulative negative effect on the body.

However: We MUST differentiate between the epidemiological effects on the population as a whole & the individual. They are NOT the same. It is difficult to quantify the effects on an individual other than in gross terms.

For your 20 month old son, a comparison of the benefits of a quarterly X-Ray to the risks that something may be going wrong that the X-Ray would show must be made.
Apparently, the Dr. ordering the X-Ray must believe that the benefits out-weigh the risks. I would agree! With modern equipment & shorter exposures, the individual risks have gone way down since I was a child in the 1940's.

To be completely, intellectually honest, I must add that the risk from a single X-ray to a 20 mo old child, when compared to that same X-Ray of me (at 77) has to be greater. A child is developing rapidly; I'm not. X-Rays affect rapidly growing/changing cells more than those that are not.

For that reason, I, as parent would be selective in how much X-Ray he gets. Only YOU know that, unless he has gotten ALL of his X-Rays in the same location.

Would I submit my child to such diagnostics? YES, I WOULD. Further - YES, we DID.

Our #1 Son was born w/ one leg shorter than the other. He started diagnostic & historical X-Rays in 1961 to record his leg growth every 6 months. For 15 YEARS! That's a lot of X-Ray. Unfortunately, the X-Rays required had to include his hips.

Why do I say "unfortunately"? Because that made it difficult to shield his gonads from the X-Ray. Especially when he was small. Easier when he was larger.

Son is now 53 & going strong - except that he is going bald.

I would suggest to you that your son's X-Ray is more beneficial than risky. BUT- if they do not need to expose his gonads, ensure that a lead sheet is thrown across that portion of his anatomy.

Let me go a bit further in the X-Ray discussion. Single exposure X-rays are no big deal, really.

Ah, but we have added CT Scans to the capability of modern diagnosis. They give us measurably greater doses of radiation from a single study. Add Fluoroscopy, like that used for implanting a PM, & the Qty of radiation goes WAY up. Throw in X-Ray motion picture studies (Like swallowing studies) & the total goes higher. Now for the Big one - Radiotherapy for cancer - THAT one really gives big doses to restricted sections of the body.

I endured Radiation therapy for prostate cancer - 45 sessions w/ a machine as large as the average bathroom; each session being 7 exposures of enough radiation to be dangerous for any stray people in the room w/ me & the machine. The walls were over a foot thick to protect the outside world. That was 11 yrs ago & I'm still here, my cancer in remission. The risk was out-weighed by the benefit. But I am now careful about extraneous X-Rays, especially abdominal CT studies. I always ask - "Is this CT Study necessary? Can it be done another way?"

Based on our family's experience. the answer to your question is "YES, it is safe." But read the factors above that go into making that decision.

Obviously this was written while Grateful Heart was writing, so let me add a final thought. Be sure to get copies of all your son's X-Rays. Keep them safe through the years. You have no idea who may want or need to see copies somewhere down the road. We have a complete file of our exposures here at home. That has saved us from uncounted grief, just as Grateful's file has. In my case, I could show that a lesion o a kidney had not changed in 8 yrs, showing it was NOT a growing malignancy & saving much diagnostic grief.

Don

In my unprofessional opinion

by Grateful Heart - 2014-01-09 12:01:43

Yes. X-Rays 4X a year seems excessive. You're Bio doesn't say where you are from but even in my Dentist's office, they only take X-Rays once a year.....unless there is a problem.

I refused additional X-Rays for a bad hip because they wanted to see if there was a change. They had just X-Rayed it 3 months prior and it was very bad then....so I felt it was unnecessary and didn't need the extra radiation, we already knew it needed surgery. I also brought older X-Rays with me from the previous Doctor.

When the Doctor interrogates your son's device, that should give them plenty of information if the device and leads are working properly.

I'm sure others will be by to offer some help.

Enjoy your baby,

Grateful Heart

One other thought

by Grateful Heart - 2014-01-09 12:01:51

When they do any X-Rays, make sure they use a lead apron over the rest of your sons body to protect his reproductive organs.

Grateful Heart

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