How can patients contribute to keep their medical radiation exposure low?

• Ask your physician to explain why an X-ray examination is necessary.
• Ask your physician about alternative diagnostic procedures with lower or no radiation exposure (for example, magnetic resonance tomography or ultrasound examination).
• Inform your physician if similar examinations were recently performed.
• Provide your physician with your X-ray record card and ask for recording new examinations.
• Bring along previously made X-ray images or have them requested.
• Before undergoing an X-ray examination, women should tell if they are or may be pregnant. In case of pregnancy X-ray examinations should only be performed in exceptional cases.