• Hello Members, This forums is for DV lottery visas only. For other immigration related questions, please go to our forums home page, find the related forum and post it there.

Chest Xray required for Green Card Lottery winners

J

Joshu

Registered Users (C)
Hello Everyone at the Immigration Forums!

I'm wondering if it's possible to somehow avoid having to go through with the CHEST XRAY which is required for the green card lottery winners, in order to process the application.

I do NOT have tuberculosis, but I had a chest xray done not too long time ago and do not want to subject my body to any additional radiation.

Please, does anyone know of what options there are? I know children under 15 years of age do not have to go through with the chest xray, but what about adults? Is there any possible waiver, any alternative examination (chest ultrasound..or something else), anything? I'm not interested in hearing about the safety of xray examinations, I just want to learn of what other possibilities there are.

Any ideas or recommendations?
 
I am a physician by profession... the gold standard for TB screening is a chest X-ray and a PPD skin test.

I wouldn't worry too much about X-ray over exposure...
 
as for alternatives.....

you can do a CT scan of the chest... which has a radiation exposure roughly x1000 times greater than conventional X-rays.
 
a positive skin test would only mean that the patient was exposed to TB (including vaccinated patients who received BCG vaccine)... What the medical examiner is trying to rule out is active open pulmonary TB and radiological imaging is necessary to rule out lesions in the lungs.

you could possibly do an MRI instead (but this is highly irregular and I'm not sure a doctor would sign off on it)
 
thanks for the response nsensen

What if I do the PPD skin test - and it's negative? Would that be enough as a diagnosis?

If not.. what if I got the xray photos from the chest xray examination I did some weeks ago, can the DV doctor use that? Do the doctors actually send the xray photos to the embassy or just their statement?

What about doing the microbiological study (culturing Mycobacterium tuberculosis)... That should be a definite test for tuberculosis... If I do this test at a private clinic and bring the results to the DV-approved doctor- will that be enough?
 
Joshu said:
thanks for the response nsensen

What if I do the PPD skin test - and it's negative? Would that be enough as a diagnosis?

If not.. what if I got the xray photos from the chest xray examination I did some weeks ago, can the DV doctor use that? Do the doctors actually send the xray photos to the embassy or just their statement?

What about doing the microbiological study (culturing Mycobacterium tuberculosis)... That should be a definite test for tuberculosis... If I do this test at a private clinic and bring the results to the DV-approved doctor- will that be enough?
Click to expand...

Have you taken your BCG vaccine? Which continent are you from?

It depends on where you are coming from... Doctors will scrutinize patients from endemic areas where TB is more prevalent (ex. Africa)... If you are in Europe for instance a negative PPD may be sufficient.

Mind you if you have taken the vaccine you would have a positive PPD test regardless.

You will be surprised to know that you will be exposed to more radiation on your trans Atlantic flight to the US as opposed to a conventional chest X-ray.

You claim to have had a chest X-ray recently... You can ask the doctor for the film or have him write a report to the medical examiner and that would solve all your problems!!!
 
Joshu said:
what if I got the xray photos from the chest xray examination I did some weeks ago, can the DV doctor use that? Do the doctors actually send the xray photos to the embassy or just their statement?
Click to expand...

Yes this would be a good way of solving your dilemma.

good Luck!
 
nsensen said:
I am a physician by profession... the gold standard for TB screening is a chest X-ray and a PPD skin test.

I wouldn't worry too much about X-ray over exposure...
Click to expand...

Hi,

I am also a selectee of FY-2012 from Asia. I am wondering can I send the documents to KCC right now? Or wait until the first day of FY-2012 (10/1/2011)?
 
All adult immigrants must have the chest xray and it must be done at a doctor on the list provided by the embassy unless you have a condition that precludes the xray ( not sure what that might be ) When travelling into the US you can always spot those on their trip to become an immigrant by the brown envelopes they carry.
 
Typical radiation dose of a normal chest X ray: 0.1 millisievert
Typical radiation dose of a chest CT scan: 10 millisievert
Typical radiation dose of an 8 hour transatlantic flight: 0.1 millisievert

I guess you will not be flying to the US, but you will be travelling on a cruise ship? ;-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top