You should always feel that you can trust your provider, and imaging should be justified. If you, at anytime, feel that your provider is not doing what you feel is for your benefit it is always okay to ask for a second opinion or switch providers all together. You can also discuss an in depth justification with your provider to get an even better justification of why they are suggesting imaging. Repeat x-rays may be suggested to check progress, but if you are not comfortable with this, ask the provider if there is an alternative process or way to check progress.

The significance of radiation doses is how they affect the human body after diagnostic imaging. The concern is that radiation is known to cause cells to mutate and possibly become cancerous. The risk of this occurring has gone down over the years with lowering radiation doses. This is achieved by different shaped tubes that administer radiation while breaking it up as it goes through the tubes. So there isn’t a major cause for concern! Healthcare providers are trained to always do what’s in the paitents best self interest and follow the ALARA principle.
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ALARA is a national standard put in place to protect individuals recieving any type of imaging. The acronym stands for “as low as reasonably achievable” meaning providers must image an individual using the lowest radiation dose possible. This protects the paitent by administering a low dose of radiation to achieve taking an image. The ALARA principle also protects the radiation technologist since there is a possibility of exposure everytime they image a patient.

Along with the actual technology used to take an x-ray, there is outside protection that a radiologic technologist will use to add extra protection! A led apron or cloth will be layed over the rest of the body that does not need x-rays to eliminate the chances of radiation going somewhere it should not.