Radiation doses were investigated for 18 infants and children undergoing cardiac catheterisation procedures with thermoluminescence dosemeters. The range of integrated current values used during cardiac catheterisation procedure was wide, from 12.2 to 1195.8 mA.min (mean 604.9). The average was 22.9 mA.min for fluoroscopy, and 616.1 mA.min for cineangiography, and the ratio of cineangiography to fluoroscopy ranged from 10.5 to 89.5 with an average of 34.0. The cineangiographic contribution was estimated to be 90% of the total doses. The entrance surface doses and thyroid doses varied widely. The ratio of maximum to minimum for entrance surface doses was 98.5, for left and right thyroid it was 59.8 and 104.4, respectively. The analysis of the entrance surface doses in three age groups showed that there was no significant difference among them. There was a weak inverse relation between the thyroid dose and the weight of the patient, while no correlation was found between the thyroid dose and the entrance surface dose. The average of entrance surface doses to the patients was 847.3 mGy, which was 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than common X ray examinations.

Radiation doses to staff involved with pediatric cardiac catheterization were measured using thermoluminescent dosimeters in 18 procedures. The average doses to the lens and thyroid, and the effective dose per procedure to the main operating physicians was 88, 180, and 8 microSv, respectively; to assistant physicians, 23, 51, and 2 microSv; and to technicians, 23, 27, and 2 microSv. In some procedures, the dose to the technician's hand approached 1,500 microSv. The doses received by physicians were proportional to cineangiographic time but with no correlation with integrated currents. The number of procedures which may be performed in a year by individual staff members was estimated to be 430 and 2,780 procedures for physicians and assistants, respectively. It was suggested that the front of the neck is an adequate position for the dosimeter to measure doses during pediatric catheterization.