Radiation safety concerns for pregnant or breast feeding patients. The positions of the NCRP and the ICRP

For many years, protecting the fetus has been a concern of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) and the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Early recommendations focused on the possibility of a wide variety of detrimental developmental effects while later recommendations focused on the potential for severe mental retardation and/or reduction in the intelligence quotient (I.Q.). The latest recommendations also note that the risk of cancer for the fetus is probably two to three times greater per Sv than in the adult. For all these reasons, the NCRP and the ICRP have provided guidance to physicians on taking all reasonable steps to ascertain whether any woman requiring a radiological or nuclear medicine procedure is pregnant or nursing a child. The NCRP and the ICRP also advise the clinician to postpone such procedures until after delivery or cessation of nursing, if possible