What areas should be shielded during radiographic exposure?

• A. Gonads, breasts, lens of the eye
• B. Heart, lungs, liver
• C. Kidneys, spleen, pancreas
• D. Muscles, bones, joints

Answer: (A)

The main idea is to reduce radiation dose to tissues that are especially sensitive to ionizing radiation while still getting an accurate image. Gonads, breasts, and the lens of the eye are shielding targets because they’re among the tissues most sensitive to radiation effects. Protecting the gonads helps minimize potential hereditary or genetic risks for future offspring. Shielding the breasts lowers the lifetime risk of radiation-induced breast cancer, which is particularly important for younger patients or when exams are repeated. Shielding the lens of the eye helps reduce the risk of radiation-induced cataracts.

Shielding those other areas would either not provide as much protective benefit or could interfere with the diagnostic information in the image. For example, shielding heart, lungs, or liver could obscure important anatomy in many exams, and shielding kidneys, spleen, or pancreas or muscles, bones, and joints could degrade image quality without offering the same level of dose reduction to highly radiosensitive tissues.