Unintentional irradiation of conceptus by diagnostic imaging examinations in Turkey.

Exposure of the fetus to medical radiation sources during the diagnostic procedures without intention is one of the most significant concerns in the medical community. In this study, 45 conventional X-ray and computed tomography (CT) examinations of the women who were unaware of their pregnancy were investigated. Effective doses and fetal doses were calculated for each application by using PCXMC and ImPACT CT scan software. The exposure of abdominal CT and abdominal conventional X-ray examinations was found to be over the literature for both the range and the average values. Average effective dose for abdominal CT examinations was calculated to be ∼3.1 times higher than that in the literature. For abdominal CT and conventional X-ray examinations, the mean fetal doses were found to be ∼3.5 times and ∼5.4 times higher than those in the literature, respectively.