Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2021
Keywords:
Interventional vascular, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Fluoroscopy, Radiation effects, Education and training
Authors:
D. Kostova-Lefterova, A. Zagorska, G. Dimitrov
DOI:
10.26044/esi2021/ESI-10937
Purpose or learning objective
The number, variety and complexity of performed interventional procedures has increased worldwide the last two decades, leading to significantly increased patient doses (1,2). Radiation-induced effects from such procedures have been reported in the scientific literature (3,4). Many professional organizations have developed different guidelines for monitoring the fluoroscopy patient dose, identifying and follow-up patients after high-dose interventional procedures (5-9).
The purpose of the study was to prove the need of implementation of follow-up system for patients after high-dose interventional procedures. Radiation-induced effects typically are late effects, they may not appear at the time of the high-dose procedure but after few days, weeks or months (10). We assumed that the implementation of follow-up system in each interventional cardiology department would result in a reduction in the number of high dose procedures and in the percentage of followed-up patients per month.