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
Methods or background
A prospective study was performed in two Interventional Cardiology Departments – A and B, on three different angiography units - A-I (2006), A-II (2009) and B-I (2015, Dose Personalization feature available). In both departments, data for all patients who underwent interventional procedures in 3-month period was collected. The dose distribution and percentage of procedures exceeding at least one of the SAFRAD trigger levels was surveyed, excluding from the analyses patients exceeding the fluoroscopy time and the number of cine-series, because of lower doses than expected. In addition, the complexity of the procedures was also analysed.
A follow-up system is already implemented in Department A for the last 6 years, contrary to Department B, where such a system does not exist. The interventional cardiologists have to follow up a patient within three months after the procedure, if any of the parameters below exceed the indicated trigger level:
- fluoroscopy time above 40 minutes;
- kerma-area product above 20 000 µGy.m2;
- cumulative dose at IRP above 5 Gy;
- number of acquired series above 20;
- if more than one procedure is performed to the same patient within 2 months.
In case of a high-dose procedure, the patient is informed to immediately call the department if skin reddening or itching appears.
The statistical analysis was performed by IBM Corp. Released 2010. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 19.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.