What Are The Side Effects Of A Barium Swallow Test?

Posted on Fri, 13 Jan 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 13 Jan 2017 Answered on

Sat, 4 Feb 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi dr. My 11 month old daughter will be having a barrium swallow test performed. I am extremely anxious and scared bc of the radiation risk. How much radiation will she be exposed to, is it a significant amount? I'm terrified she will develop cancer.

Answered by Dr. Vivek Chail (23 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
She is 99.78 percent safe of having no effect of the barium swallow

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for writing in to us.

Barium swallow test is a basic investigation and the radiation dose to your daughter will be approximately 6 mSv.

This is a tiny radiation and the associated cancer risk from this test is 0.21 percent.

There is no need to be terrified and 99.78 percent she will be safe with no risk of cancer.

Hope your query is answered.
Please do write back if you have any doubts.

Regards,

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar