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Old 27th Jan 2011, 22:28
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AnthonyGA
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Mrs JO is in medical imaging and is told to brief patients: "This mammogram X-ray exposes you to no more radiation than a long haul flight".

She asks is this true?
No, it does not appear to be true, at least based on figures I was able to dig up. A typical single long-haul airline flight results in an exposure of about 0.02-0.03 mSv, which is about twenty to forty times less than a typical mammogram at 0.7 mSv. So a single mammogram is probably roughly equivalent to about a year's worth of air travel for a frequent business traveler.
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