Fetal Exposure to Diagnostic X Rays, and Leukemia and Other Malignant Diseases in Childhood

Abstract

A survey of the comparative incidence of exposure to antenatal irradiation in utero and of the occurrence of leukemia and other malignant diseases in later childhood is reported. The case material consisted of deaths, before the age of 10 years, from leukemia and other malignant diseases, in Louisiana during the 5-year period 1951–55. The control cases were deaths from other causes matched for age, sex, race, and place of death. Information concerning the incidence of irradiation (diagnostic X rays during the last trimester of pregnancy) was obtained from professional sources, either from the doctor who delivered the mother or from the institution in which the child was born. The incidence of X-ray exposure was found to be as follows: leukemia cases, 26.9 percent; malignant disease cases, 28.4 percent; and control cases, 18.3 percent. These findings are in substantial agreement with those of Stewart et al., in England. The findings lend emphasis to the need for minimizing exposure of the fetus to X rays, by careful determination of the indications for antenatal radiography and by attention to the technical procedures.