Estimation of maternal and foetal risk of radiation-induced cancer from a survey of computed tomography pulmonary angiography and ventilation/perfusion lung scanning for diagnosing pulmonary embolism during pregnancy.

Introduction: While there are many papers on maternal and foetal radiation doses from computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) and ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) lung scanning examinations for diagnosing pulmonary embolism in pregnant patients, few have used clinical data to examine the patient lifetime attributable risk (LAR) of different cancer types. This paper aims to estimate the cancer risk from maternal radiation doses from CTPA and V/Q examinations and associated foetal doses.

Methods: Dosimetric data were determined for 267 pregnant patients who received CTPA and/or V/Q examinations over 8 years.