Background/introduction
Occupational dose monitoring in theatre on an individualised basis is difficult, and resource intensive due to the large changeover of staff,and typically low staff and patient doses. This work examined the use of dose monitoring badges attached directly to the c-arms in theatre with a view to establish that the dose burden associated with the fluoroscopy workload in the theatres did not warrant individual dose monitoring for staff.
This can provide additional reassurance to regulators in areas where staff throughput is high and compliance with...
Description of activity and work performed
Personnel dose monitoring badges were attached to close to the zero angle point on four c-arms used for a variety of fluoroscopy procedures. Doses were monitored monthly over an eighteen month period. The individual model and use of the c-arms is shown in Fig 1.
C-arm 1 has vascular software but aside from vascular work C-arms 1,2 and 3 are used interchangeably in the theatres and Day Therapy suites. C-arm 4 is a recent acquisition and therefore has limited recorded dose data available compared to...
Conclusion and recommendations
The recorded doses on the c-arms were less than the occupational dose limits and areshown inFig 2.
The recorded doses showed that the risk of exceeding a dose limit this close to the scatter source even without leadprotection was small.The scattered dose recorded was considered to reflect the complexity and workload of the c-arms. This information was reassuring to staff and used in staff training and risk assessments.
Our conclusion is that machine based dosimetry monitoringhas useful implications in radiation protection in a theatre environment....
Personal/organisational information
B. M. L. McCoubrey; Dublin/IE - nothing to disclose P. Gilligan; Dublin/IE - nothing to disclose S. Maguire; Dublin/IE - nothing to disclose S. Eustace; Dublin 4/IE - nothing to disclose
References
This research study was conducted in-house and references are non applicable.