Efficacy of Radiation Safety Glasses in Interventional Radiology

Abstract

The efficacy of radiation protection glasses depends on the orientation of the operator's head relative to the irradiated volume. Glasses can offer good protection to the eye under clinically relevant conditions. However, the performance in clinical practice in our study was lower than expected. This is likely related to nonoptimized room geometry and training of the staff as well as measurement methodology.

Occupational Radiation Exposure During Endovascular Aortic Repair

“…This is reflected by the recent recommendation of the International Commission on Radiological Protection to reduce the equivalent dose limit for eye lenses from 150 to 20 mSv/ year [15]. As distances from irradiated patient's body part to the staff member's breast and eye lenses are comparable, the measured over-lead doses can be taken as approximation of the staff member's procedural eye lens dose [16]. The ICRP stated that the eye lens dose can be sufficiently assessed using the operational quantity Hp(0.07) [17], which can be estimated from the Hp(10) by means of conversion factors published by the ICRP [18].…”

Radiation-Induced Cataractogenesis: A Critical Literature Review for the Interventional Radiologist

“…Challa found that eyeglasses reduced lens dose in cardiology procedures to the left and right eye by 67 and 45 %, respectively [56], and a similar cardiology study found a left eye dose reduction of only 35 % [57]. Another study assessed eyeglass protection in a wide range of interventional procedures, finding a dose reduction factor of 2.1 for the left (tube-side) eye and no significant dose reduction for the right eye [52].…”

“…In general, shielding offers protection that is superior to that of leaded eyeglasses [50,52,61]. Shielding avoids the gaps in the protective barrier that plague leaded eyeglasses and provides excellent protection for both eyes.…”

“…Usage of the ceiling-suspended shield in the in vivo arm of the van Rooijen study reduced radiation to the left and right eye by a factor of 5.7 and 4.8, respectively [52]. The Koukorova phantom study found that shielding reduced lens dose by 98 % [33].…”

“…When the phantom was placed at increasing angles to the source, however, lens geometry became increasingly important and the thinner, larger lens was more effective than one of the thicker models. Another study assessed the influence of operator head position [52]. For frontal irradiation of the phantom placed at the level of the simulated patient, dose reduction between eyeglass models ranged from a factor of 7.9-10.…”