Evaluation of Dose Reduction in Patients and Operators during Fluoroscopy Guided Cardiology Procedures

Abstract

Fluoroscopy is used to track a catheter as it enters a heart or coronary arteries. However, radiation exposure, which is highly dependent on the complexity of procedures and the optimization of imaging parameters applied by clinicians, is a major concern during diagnosis. The exposure dose of a phantom protected with an optimized radiation protection device (a lead sheet directly under treatment bed) was measured using optically simulated luminescent dosimeters and compared with those in unprotected arrangement. The radiation doses of operator were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in the lens, thyroid, and gonad regions with protection (190.0 ± 39.2, 206.7 ± 43.3, and 273.3 ± 56.4 μGy, respectively) than without it (221.7 ± 11.8, 235.0 ± 49.0, and 310.0 ± 65.5 μGy). The patients without radiation protection were exposed to relatively high radiation doses in the brain, gonad, or lens regions. Thus, suitable protection against the radiation exposure should be minimized during cardiac catheterization.

Cardiac catheterization real-time dynamic radiation dose measurement to estimate lifetime attributable risk of cancer

“…procedures are associated with increasing the radiation doses. Estimation of the radiation doses in staff have a wide variation across the literatures as a result of the levels of complexity of the procedures [1,3,[23][24][25]. This phenomenon is comparable with our staff radiation doses.…”