Estimation of fetal dose to patients undergoing diagnostic X-ray procedures.

The estimation of fetal dose incurred by patients undergoing various radiologic procedures can be very perplexing. The problem is especially critical for women who do not know that they are pregnant at the time of x-ray exposure. A desciption is offered of efforts to quantitate the fetal dose by after-the-fact calculations. Such conservatively employed calculations may be essential for a clinical decision regarding therapeutic abortion.