My friend had a miscarriage while she was staying with her mother, who was undergoing radiation therapy for breast cancer. Is it possible that she could have received some radiation from her mother? Could this have caused her miscarriage? This was three years ago, and she hasn't been able to get pregnant since. Could that small exposure to the radiation have made her sterile?

J.S.

She received no radiation exposure from her mother. The use of external radiation therapy for the treatment of breast cancer does not leave a person radioactive. The miscarriage and infertility are unrelated to her mother's condition or treatment.