Prenatal irradiation–induced brain neuropathology and cognitive impairment

Detection of unrecognized pregnancy prior to a fluoroscopy‐guided interventional procedure: A case report

“…It is well known that radiation exposure during pregnancy can cause detrimental effects on fetus . A number of pregnancies could be unknown at the time of presentation for a fluoroscopy‐guided procedure .…”

“…Consequences may vary with the stage of pregnancy and total radiation dose absorbed by the fetus. In utero radiation exposure could result in prenatal death, growth retardation, organ malformation such as small head/brain size, mental retardation, intellectual (IQ) disability, neocortical ectopias, callosal agenesis, and childhood tumors . As per the Center for Disease Prevention Center (CDC) website, the prevalence of intellectual disability (IQ < 70) is 40% after an exposure of 1 Gy from 8th to 15th week, and the prevalence of intellectual disability (IQ < 70) is 15% after an exposure of 1 Gy from 16th to 25th week…”

“…Fluoroscopy‐guided interventional pain management procedures are performed commonly for the diagnosis and treatment of various pain conditions. It is well known that radiation exposure during pregnancy can cause detrimental effects on fetus . However, not all pregnant women who are scheduled to undergo fluoroscopy‐guided interventions are aware of their pregnancy .…”

“…Embryo is most susceptible to radiation exposure during organogenesis. Some of the risks of in utero radiation exposure are prenatal death, growth retardation, organ malformation such as small head/brain size, mental retardation, intellectual (IQ) disability, neocortical ectopias, callosal agenesis, and childhood tumors . There are general practice guidelines published by American College of Radiology (ACR) for imaging pregnant or potentially pregnant patients .…”

Radiation and Alzheimer's Disease (AD)

“…Intranasal inhalation of radon gas could subject the rhinencephalon and hippocampus to damaging radiation that initiated AD [8]. The Alzheimer neurofibrillary tangle is composed of tau, which is one of the most common pathological hallmarks of AD and tau aggregation pathology at Braak stage 1 1 (out of 6 Braak stages) or beyond affects 50% of the population over the age of 45 [9][10][11]. Our recent review of the effect of the pre-and post-natal irradiation on animal models and human studies indicated many similarities in hippocampal neuropathology, cognitive impairment and relevant molecular mechanisms between Alzheimer's disease and early life radiation exposure-induced neuropsychological disorders [12][13][14][15][16].…”