CANINE HEALTH

Doctor orders a CT scan or MRI? Doing hip x-rays on your stud dog? Read these vigorously suppressed reproductive and DNA risks.

X-RAY HYPE vs. RADIATION RISKS

Barbara J. Andrews, Publisher, TheDogPlace.org

Let's start with risk compared to value of elbow and hip x-rays. Any astute owner can tell if a dog is sound, what troubles us is ‘will his joints stay ok?”

Radiographs show us joint structure on the day but even the veterinarian who takes the x-ray cannot predict whether the dog will stay sound and certainlly, X-rays can't show what that dog will produce... So how is it that dog breeders have been so completely conditioned to believe that risking their dog to anesthia and radiation will in some way help them achieve genetic soundness?

Statistically, that could be true but...the veterinarians who take and read the radiograph cannot assure you the dog will stay sound or that it will produce sound offspring!

The risks of radiation are such that the dentist drapes a lead shield over your torso when all he's going to do is x-ray one little tooth located quite some distance from your reproductive organs. 

X-ray technicians set up the exact target area before they get behind a lead wall and say "take a deep breath and hold it."  OK, so X-ray techs are at higher risk because radiation exposure is cumulative.  Right!!!

Radiation is cumulative so how many x-rays are safe?  Dog breeders commonly x-ray their dogs for non-essential reasons. If an intestinal, spinal, or gastric x-ray is risky for human reproductive organs, then how can a hip x-ray possibly be safe for your dog when the full force of the beam is precisely aimed at the ovaries and testes?

Savvy dog breeders are beginning to question the marketing hype that leads our dogs down the primrose path to repeated radiation exposure. Radiographs are a huge money-maker and they are indeed a valuable diagnostic tool but cellular bombardment by repetitive radiation is directly linked to the extraordinary increase in cancer and genetic mutations.

Or maybe not. Remember the two Australian researchers Marshall and Warren, who pleaded with the profession about H. pylori bacteria. In 1985 they discovered that helicobacter pylori caused stomach ulcers but they were silenced because the palliative treatments/surgery was too profitable? Ultimately, they won the Nobel Prize in 2005 for what was termed “the bug of the century.”

The Swedish hip dysplasia study of the 60’s proved that x-ray was a flop at reducing the incidence of canine hip dysplasia. Gerry Schnelle DVM, was hushed up even though it was he who discovered CHD (in 1937) and led the most-cited, peer-reviewed research project.

Dr. Schnelle subsequently resigned from the board of OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) with a statement published in JAVM stating that he could not attach his name to an x-ray of a dog he had not seen. He felt OFA diagnostic errors (and they were rampant!) were the result of reading radiographs and grading hip x-rays without knowing the physical condition of the dog, including muscle tone, overall health, and whether a bitch had produced a litter.

Many veterinarians believe there is a connection between today's excessive use of X-rays and vaccines with the result being a huge uptick in DNA damage, genetic mutations, and the emergence of so many NEW diseases. ^{ref 1}  Ask yourself...

My answer to (A) is yes, hip and elbow dysplasia in show stock is much better, particularly in some high-risk breeds.  There is no study that I'm aware of but a logical conclusion attributes that more to overall better breeding, feeding and rearing practices than to selection of breeding partners based on x-ray results.

The answer to (B) is an unequivocal “Yes.”

(C) Presents a moral and medical dilemma. Who do we know that repeats an x-ray when the dog begins to demonstrate a joint problem? Once certified, it’s for life - and that is medically UNSOUND logic!

Which is more important to the dog? Which is more important to a buyer? One “lifetime” radiograph or a well-rounded, well cared for dog fit and sound enough to be put on public display?

Ref 1 - Immune System Impact by Patricia Jordan DVM

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