Ms. Iodine and Mr. Sievert
March 19, 2011A good friend of mine decided to go back to Indonesia. The reason for his return is mostly to calm his parents who were really panic and begged him to go back. Well, I think it’s a good decision since putting your parents in stressful condition for a week or more has more unwanted health effect on them than Tokyo’s current level of radiation to yourself. We both worried and confused but finally he decided first to go back, risking his career in Tokyo.
During that indecisive moment, we had a small talk which made both of us laughing. During the last two years both me and him have gone through CT-scanning. I went through it once, which made me received 6900 micro Sievert radiation plus two times X-ray scan (2 x 50 Sievert). So totally I received 7000 micro Sievert amount of radiation. My friend had gone through worse case. During the last one month, he went through THREE times CT-scan plus several hundreds micro Sievert amount of radiation he will receive today went he fly from Tokyo to Denpasar. So, roughly during this month he received about 22000 micro Sievert amount of radiation.
The current radiation level in Tokyo right now is about 0.05 micro Sievert per hour. Which means if anyone staying here continuously receive it for the whole year, he will receive about 0.05 x 24 x 365 = 438 micro Sievert.
Compare this 438 micro Sievert with 7000 micro Sievert I had received and 22000 micro Sievert my friend had received since we went through CT-scan. Do we really have to worry that much?
Okay, then someone else protest: “Beside the radiation level, there are other things called the Iodine and the Cesium which increase the risk of thyroid cancer!” Do you know that before you go through CT-scan your body is injected by a ‘contrast liquid’. What I remember, the color of the liquid is light blue. When it went through your vein for the first 20 seconds, you feel something cold and weird with your lungs. Those liquid is also the Iodine! I remember that the amount of those liquid which was injected to my body is not small. It was about 100 – 200 mL (if I don’t make mistake here). And compare those amount with what you receive through Tokyo air last week.
I don’t intend to be careless or consider everything as not serious. It is SERIOUS, I am telling you. But the purpose of this blog is to make you NOT having high blood pressure since you become paranoid about Ms. Iodine and Mr. Sievert. The high blood pressure (which I have been feeling the last one week) risks us more than the radiation itself.
Reference: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003330.htm
This is good information for all of us. Thank you so much for sharing this.
I don’t know much about Radiology, but this is so unsuitable that you have to do the CT-scanning for general check up. As I know, CT is only done if you have some indications, therefore you should have any symptoms first so that your GP would order you to do the CT.
About the Iodine contrast and Thyroid Ca, I am sorry that I have to disagree with you.. I have read some articles and journals about the Iodide contrasts. It says that the worst side effect of the Iodide contrast so far is the Anaphylactic Reaction (It’s the worst symptoms of your allergic reaction that even could stop your heart) and it occurs rarely. But, if someone had a Thyroid Ca formerly and he was in the ongoing treatment of Iodine, it will do the effect which is his thyroid cells would be hard to uptake the medication(Iodine) and it will make his treatment not working properly for a period of time. This is associated with the Feedback Mechanism of Thyroid glands. you can check it on Google later about this physiology of thyroid if you want to. =)
Greetings