CT scan radiation exposure on prgnancy?

My wife had CT Scan radiation exposure on her abdomen at 3 1/2 weeks pregnant without knowing she was pregnant for her hernia.

Your wife should tell her OB/GYN about your radiation exposure. Very early in pregnancy, there is an all or nothing phenomenon when we talk about fetal radiation exposure. This means either you miscarry (sometimes before you even knew you were pregnant) or you carry a full term baby who is not "damaged" by the radiation exposure. The radiation doses used in CT scanning fall below the doses which are considered dangerous.

The following is from websites which have questions answered by qualified medical personel who are experts in radiation and it's effects. Here is what I found:

"QUESTION: I am in my eighth week of pregnancy. In the beginning of my pregnancy, around two weeks, I had some abdominal x rays and a CT scan done of my abdomen. I've read that the damage from the abdominal x ray is minimal, but what about the CT scan? What possible damage can occur (if any) from that?
ANSWER: We told the person asking this question that the conceptus dose from such a CT examination is between 12 mGy and 30 mGy (1.2 rad and 3 rad) according to Exposure of the Pregnant Patient to Diagnostic Radiations, (Medical Physics Publishing, Madison, Wisconsin). However, we cautioned her that the precise dose depends on the machine and techniques used, the size of the patient, etc. We pointed out that the National Council on Radiation Protection, 1977, said: "The risk [of abnormaility] is considered to be negligible at 5 rad or less when compared to other risks of pregnancy, and the risk of malformations is significantly increased above control levels only at doses above 15 rad. Therefore, exposure of the fetus to radiation arising from diagnostic procedures would very rarely be cause, by itself, for terminating a pregnancy."

Genevieve S. Roessler, PhD
Editor, HPS Web Site "

http://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q37...

There is a similar question and answer that you can look at here:

http://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q26...

Regarding the all or nothing theory:

"He also mentioned that in very early pregnancy, it is generally an 'all or nothing situation.' If the embryo was damaged by the radiation, it would not survive. If it did survive, chances were very good everything would be OK."

http://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q37...

CT scans are okay during pregnancy its an MRI you need to worry about. CT scans do not produce enough of a radiation to harm the fetus.