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Radiation
Radiation
Does radiation cause cancer?
There has never been a case of breast cancer proven to be caused from radiation exposure during a mammogram. We are all exposed to background radiation - it exists in the ground we walk on and in the air we breathe. Radiation from a screening mammogram is about the same as six months of radiation exposure from daily living. If you would like to know more about radiation safety, please visit:
http://www.radiationsafety.ca/
Do I need a thyroid guard when I have a mammogram?
The Screening Mammography Program does not recommend the use of thyroid guards for screening mammograms because they can interfere with capturing a clear breast image. The guard can limit the technologist’s ability to place all of the breast tissue on the compression plate. As a result some breast tissue may be missed or more x-rays may need to be taken.
Also, the screening mammography x-ray directs the radiation beam towards the breast tissue, so the thyroid is not directly exposed to the radiation beam. The thyroid can be exposed to “ background scatter radiation”, which is the same amount of radiation a North American would be exposed to from 30 minutes of natural background radiation.