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Editorial
Update patients on gonadal and fetal shielding for diagnostic imaging
  1. Joanna Girling
  1. Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, West Middlesex University Hospital, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Joanna Girling, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, West Middlesex University Hospital, London, UK; Joanna.Girling{at}nhs.net

https://doi.org/10.1136/dtb.2024.000004

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    Gonadal and fetal shielding for diagnostic imaging has been stopped in the UK.1 This practice has been a part of clinical care for over 50 years and is entrenched in many practitioners’ and patients’ expectations. Latest guidance recommends the discontinuation of this practice, and this information needs to be disseminated in order to reassure those it affects.

    X-rays began to be used in medical practice at the end of the 19th century. In the 1930s, obstetric radiology was an expanding field with recommendations for X-ray pelvimetry in early pregnancy to predict and prevent obstructed labour and associated morbidity and mortality. However, in the 1950s, the risks of radiation were re-evaluated, and gonadal and fetal lead shielding was recommended to reduce possible harms. …

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    Footnotes

    • Competing interests None declared. Refer to the online supplementary files to view the ICMJE form(s).

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.