Friend told me not to go into radiology because "You will get cancer from it"

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UAAWolf

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I laughed at him when he told me this. MAYBE you get some risk if you are a radiology tech...but even they have gear and protection. The actual radiologists read files...how the hell does this equal higher cancer risk?


He is wrong, correct?
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Ha, some radiologists do most of their work right at home. Hard to catch a bunch of radiation sitting in front of the computer.
 
NoMoreAMCAS said:
Ha, some radiologists do most of their work right at home. Hard to catch a bunch of radiation sitting in front of the computer.
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Exactly why I laughed at my friend lol.

OH NO laptop gamma rayzzzzzzzz!!!!
 
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UAAWolf said:
I laughed at him when he told me this. MAYBE you get some risk if you are a radiology tech...but even they have gear and protection. The actual radiologists read files...how the hell does this equal higher cancer risk?


He is wrong, correct?
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I've heard the same. Im guessing you are more exposed to harmful rays....but theres a whole lot of things "causing" cancer these days.

And it sure doesn't seem to be stopping docs from specializing...

Maybe do some scholarly goggling and see what the research is saying.
 
Don't become an OBGYN, you'll catch pregnancy!
 
back in the day that may have been the issue, but now they have so much protective gear for the techs that the risk isn't all that big. It's not like Rosalind Franklin who supposedly died of cancer from all the Xrays she exposed herself to over her lifetime
 
As someone else posted earlier, this was certainly the case awhile ago, though not so much anymore. Specialities such as interventional cardiologists still deal with these sorts of "Oooh watch out" comments, but for good reason. Those lead suits worn in the cath labs came about out of necessity, and they didn't always include that fashionable neck guard. That too has now been introduced, again, for a reason...
 
UAAWolf said:
I laughed at him when he told me this. MAYBE you get some risk if you are a radiology tech...but even they have gear and protection. The actual radiologists read files...how the hell does this equal higher cancer risk?


He is wrong, correct?
Click to expand...

It can be a concern for the IR and interventional cardio guys, but the diagnostic guys...not really.
 
I would think that the x-ray techs are the ones who should be worried. It seems like the radiologist just sit behind the glass...or at least that's how it seems to be at the hospital I volunteer at.

I wouldn't worry too much, and I for sure would not let that stop me from going into rads, if I so desired.
 
anything can give you cancer these days apparently.
 
The problem with radiology is outsourcing. With the popularity of digital media these days, some hospitals send their films overseas to be read.
 
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one transatlantic flight exposes us to the same amount of radiation as a chest x-ray. There is no increased cancer for flight crew (last I checked). I think you will be fine.
 
I have to admit, I shadowed an orthopedic surgeon and i was concerned about how many X-rays he exposed himself to in just one surgery. He was reducing in ulnar fraction in a patient and literally holding the elbow in position so an x-ray tech could get a good shot. He literally took 20 plus x-rays resulting in even his hands showing on screen. This cannot be good. We all were wearing vests and thyroid guards but it just seemed odd to me that he would allow part of his body be exposed like that. Am I missing something? Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
 
DocMcCoy said:
I have to admit, I shadowed an orthopedic surgeon and i was concerned about how many X-rays he exposed himself to in just one surgery. He was reducing in ulnar fraction in a patient and literally holding the elbow in position so an x-ray tech could get a good shot. He literally took 20 plus x-rays resulting in even his hands showing on screen. This cannot be good. We all were wearing vests and thyroid guards but it just seemed odd to me that he would allow part of his body be exposed like that. Am I missing something? Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
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You were missing the fact that he is The Man
 
DocMcCoy said:
I have to admit, I shadowed an orthopedic surgeon and i was concerned about how many X-rays he exposed himself to in just one surgery. He was reducing in ulnar fraction in a patient and literally holding the elbow in position so an x-ray tech could get a good shot. He literally took 20 plus x-rays resulting in even his hands showing on screen. This cannot be good. We all were wearing vests and thyroid guards but it just seemed odd to me that he would allow part of his body be exposed like that. Am I missing something? Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
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I honestly think some people get careless after awhile about the hazards. You are right- it's obviously not good at all. At the same time, my bio prof routinely works with extremely bad chemicals without wearing gloves or using a hood (breathes Phenol vapors everyday etc lol).

Maybe after time they just stop caring
 
UAAWolf said:
I honestly think some people get careless after awhile about the hazards. You are right- it's obviously not good at all. At the same time, my bio prof routinely works with extremely bad chemicals without wearing gloves or using a hood (breathes Phenol vapors everyday etc lol).

Maybe after time they just stop caring
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Ya I guess, apparently there are a lot of articles on the subject (I just spend 20 minutes searching) I can see how easily it would be to get complacent if it was something you were doing every day.
 
However, if you go into psychiatry, you will definitely become crazy.
 
You are only at risk for cancer if you practice in the state of California. Many things have a disclaimer "has been shown to increase risk of cancer in the state of California". So do your residency and practice in any other state and you will be fine
 
just one said:
You are only at risk for cancer if you practice in the state of California. Many things have a disclaimer "has been shown to increase risk of cancer in the state of California". So do your residency and practice in any other state and you will be fine
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That's funny because I was using this super glue the other day and on the label it read, "Has been shown to cause cancer in the state of California." I remember thinking how stupid that was...
 
just one said:
You are only at risk for cancer if you practice in the state of California. Many things have a disclaimer "has been shown to increase risk of cancer in the state of California". So do your residency and practice in any other state and you will be fine
Click to expand...


.....wow, too much sunny weather and not enough sunscreen? 😕
 
IR rads doctor I shadowed with says your greatly increase chance of cataracts by doing rads (specifically IR rads)
 
One thing to remember is most of us on this thread will not be practicing for say something like 13 years. We may all be walking around in uv, gamma, and xray, bacteria, disease shielding bubbles by then. Or living through avatars.
 
Or still not have flying cars.
What's the difference between today and 1995?
iPhones.
 
It's all good -- I was working with concentrated HCl last week and it never even crossed my mind to stick it in the fume hood.

I finally did a 1:2 dilution so I wouldn't inhale so many vapors, but it was still pretty bad. Didn't realize until the next damn day that I should have been working in the fume hood.

Sometimes I can be such an idiot...
 
I wouldn't worry. If you're not choking with a screaming throat, you're probably not breathing in enough HCl vapor to hurt yourself.
 
I always wonder if i am being careful enough with ethidium bromide in the lab. And polyacrylamide before it solidifies is a neurotoxin. Spilled some on my leg one and cleaned it up quickly. And a whole bunch of inhalants, acids, and such like the previous poster mentions. It is hard to avoid this stuff in a science field sometimes, even agricultural science guys deal with pesticides and chemicals.
 
Johnny was a chemist but johnny is no more
for what johnny thought was H2O was actually H2SO4.
 
dingyibvs said:
The problem with radiology is outsourcing. With the popularity of digital media these days, some hospitals send their films overseas to be read.
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They send them overseas to US-board certified radiologists. A benefit of the field is that you can work from anywhere. Why is this a problem?
 
curbye said:
maybe he is Dr. Norris? the surg i shadowed was like stannnddd baccckkkk when i was already like 2ft back...and i remember he pointed out the mri room and like DONT GO IN THERE CANCER IS IN THERE!!!! man he was awesome
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And clearly uninformed. MRI has no radiation and no demonstrated ability to cause cancer.
 
Morsetlis said:
Johnny was a chemist but johnny is no more
for what johnny thought was H2O was actually H2SO4.
Click to expand...
I love that poem. I always heard it as Johnny was a chemist's son, but Johnny is no more. What Johnny thought was H20 was H2SO4.
 
thesauce said:
They send them overseas to US-board certified radiologists. A benefit of the field is that you can work from anywhere. Why is this a problem?
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Correct. No foreign rads can read the scans if he/she is not US Board certified and insured by US malpractice carrier and licensed to read in that specific state in the US. The only people American rads are competing against are American rads who live in Australia/Switzerland/Israel, etc. who work for companies like NightHawk, Virtual Rad, etc.

To go back to the original questions, yes you are exposed to radiation if you do I.R. That is why you wear lead vest, thyroid shield, and special eye glasses (to protect against cataracts). Many rads don't even wear the eye shield b/c almost everyone in the general population gets cataracts if you live long enough, so their philosophy is that they will just get cataract surgery earlier. I.R. docs also wear radiation monitors on themselves that measure the amount of radiation and it is usually hospital policy that they do not go above a certain limit each month. Overall, a pretty good field, considering the very cool minimally invasive procedures you get to do. 👍
 
marble30 said:
.....wow, too much sunny weather and not enough sunscreen? 😕
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You obviously don't read the fine print do you? Artifical sweetners, many chemicals, lots of things have a disclaimer on them that reads that. See the other post about the super glue. My first poke was a joke. You'd be suprised how many things California classifies as a carcinogen that other states don't.
 
just one said:
You obviously don't read the fine print do you? Artifical sweetners, many chemicals, lots of things have a disclaimer on them that reads that. See the other post about the super glue. My first poke was a joke. You'd be suprised how many things California classifies as a carcinogen that other states don't.
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i always thought it was that other states didn't care enough to make every product slap a cancer label on it. so is it actually that only cali classifies stuff as carcinogens, and other states haven't found enough evidence to justify it?
 
The Poet Sings said:
i always thought it was that other states didn't care enough to make every product slap a cancer label on it. so is it actually that only cali classifies stuff as carcinogens, and other states haven't found enough evidence to justify it?
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I think its just that California made a law that the items can't be sold without those labels, so rather than make two sets of products the companies just throw the label on all of them.

Similar thing happens with some lawnmower parts, California requires a certain quality of muffler or something so John Deere just puts it on all of them.
 
I remember seeing an epidemiological study where the cancer rates for nearly all cancers were significantly higher than in the general population.

But you have to remember the study was probably mostly doctors who were practicing radiology in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and things have changed quite a bit since then.
 
thesauce said:
And clearly uninformed. MRI has no radiation and no demonstrated ability to cause cancer.
Click to expand...

It does use radio waves, doesn't it? Not saying radio waves are dangerous (lol), just asking.
 
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