This poster is published under an
open license. Please read the
disclaimer for further details.
Keywords:
Gastrointestinal tract, Fluoroscopy, Endoscopy, Cholangiography
Authors:
E. Saukko1, A. Henner2, S.-M. Ahonen2; 1Turku/FI, 2Oulu/FI
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2015/C-0236
Aims and objectives
In its publication 117 released in 2010,
the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) expressed concern about the fact that the use of fluoroscopy outside the imaging departments has increased significantly and expanded to the larger clinical areas.
There has been general neglect and a lack of training,
knowledge and awareness regarding radiation protection among of those working with fluoroscopy outside the imaging departments.
[1]
Gastroenterology is one of the specialties which use fluoroscopy to aid endoscopic procedures,
such as ERCP [1].
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a highly technical and demanding invasive procedure used in the treatment of the hepatobiliary system [2-3].
ERCP may be performed outside the imaging department,
e.g.
in operating theatres or endoscopy unit [4].
During ERCP,
both patients and healthcare staff are exposed to ionizing radiation and there is a potential risk of radiation-induced injury (Fig.
1).
This makes the ERCP undoubtedly an interventional radiological procedure which requires the same level of radiation protection practice.
However,
ERCP is not generally performed by a radiologist,
but by a gastroenterologist or even by a general surgeon.
[3,
5-6]
Several previous studies have been performed in response to growing interest in radiation exposure during ERCP.
Results about radiation exposure to patients [5-12] and endoscopy staff [5-6,
8-10,
13-14] in ERCP showed a significant variation in radiation doses.
In the recent years occupational eye doses have been of special interest too,
based on the ICRP new statement on tissue reactions and recommendation of a reduced dose limit for the lens of the eye from 150 to 20 mSv per year [16].
According to latest publications the occupational eye doses from ERCP may have the potential to exceed the new ICRP dose limit of 20 mSv [13-15,
17].
In addition,
the published data concerning radiation protection practice in the context of endoscopy is limited and inadequate.
The aim of this study was to investigate current clinical practice for radiation protection during ERCP.