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Hey Doctor, Recently My Gastroenterologist Ordered A HIDA Scan For
Question: Hey doctor,
Recently my gastroenterologist ordered a HIDA scan for me because she thinks my gallbladder may be playing up. I have had stomach issues for the least 4 years now with numerous tests done including endoscopy’s both sides, abdominal ultrasounds, blood tests, stool tests which all came up inclusive, but my symptoms still persists and after all these years I’m finally having my gallbladder checked. I am however worried about the test in terms of the radiation received during it. I just wanted to know how much I would receive during it the whole aspect of them injecting a radioactive tracer into my bloodstream sounds scary and from I read I’d receive 3.15 mSv which is equal to about 30 chest X-rays right? Is that quite a significant amount I just worry at my age of 21 that being quite a lot is there much of an increase in cancer risk doing a test like this and how exactly is it done what is the procedure like?
Recently my gastroenterologist ordered a HIDA scan for me because she thinks my gallbladder may be playing up. I have had stomach issues for the least 4 years now with numerous tests done including endoscopy’s both sides, abdominal ultrasounds, blood tests, stool tests which all came up inclusive, but my symptoms still persists and after all these years I’m finally having my gallbladder checked. I am however worried about the test in terms of the radiation received during it. I just wanted to know how much I would receive during it the whole aspect of them injecting a radioactive tracer into my bloodstream sounds scary and from I read I’d receive 3.15 mSv which is equal to about 30 chest X-rays right? Is that quite a significant amount I just worry at my age of 21 that being quite a lot is there much of an increase in cancer risk doing a test like this and how exactly is it done what is the procedure like?
Brief Answer:
You are going to be 99.97 percent safe
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for writing in.
At age 21, a HIDA scan can give you 3.1 mSv and a chest xray dose is 0.1 mSv.
Therefore your calculation is correct that the HIDA scan will give you radiation equal to 30 chest xrays.
However such radiation due to HIDA scan will have a relative cancer risk of 0.03 percent.
It means that 99.97 percent you are going to be safe and the radiation will not affect you.
Regards,
You are going to be 99.97 percent safe
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for writing in.
At age 21, a HIDA scan can give you 3.1 mSv and a chest xray dose is 0.1 mSv.
Therefore your calculation is correct that the HIDA scan will give you radiation equal to 30 chest xrays.
However such radiation due to HIDA scan will have a relative cancer risk of 0.03 percent.
It means that 99.97 percent you are going to be safe and the radiation will not affect you.
Regards,
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Nagamani Ng
Hey doctor,
Thanks for the follow up that puts me at ease a little in terms of that in comparison how much natural background radiation the average person gets a year it’s pretty similar right? Also how does the procedure work what’s the process of it?
Thanks for the follow up that puts me at ease a little in terms of that in comparison how much natural background radiation the average person gets a year it’s pretty similar right? Also how does the procedure work what’s the process of it?
Being that they suspect something may be amiss with my gallbladder what sort of things can this test pick up relating to that particular organ and it’s quite uncommon for someone my age to have issues like that right? Although my mum does have gallstones so not sure if it can be family related?
Brief Answer:
It will test the contractility of your gall bladder
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for writing in to us.
Your estimate of the radiation dose for HIDA scan is similar to average natural background exposure in a year.
The HIDA scan involves injecting a radio isotope in to the blood and it gets accumulated in t he bile stored in gall bladder and the ejection of the bile is studied by taking many images of he area using a camera which records isotope activity. This is more accurate to assess the contractility of the gall bladder and if it is functioning well.
It is slightly less common are your age, but occasionally I come across children of age 4 years coming with gall stones.
Regards,
It will test the contractility of your gall bladder
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for writing in to us.
Your estimate of the radiation dose for HIDA scan is similar to average natural background exposure in a year.
The HIDA scan involves injecting a radio isotope in to the blood and it gets accumulated in t he bile stored in gall bladder and the ejection of the bile is studied by taking many images of he area using a camera which records isotope activity. This is more accurate to assess the contractility of the gall bladder and if it is functioning well.
It is slightly less common are your age, but occasionally I come across children of age 4 years coming with gall stones.
Regards,
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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