BJR
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
First published online January 5, 2009
British Journal of Radiology (2009) 82, 296-302
© 2009 British Institute of Radiology
doi: 10.1259/bjr/14857366
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by D'HELFT, C J
Right arrow Articles by RAINFORD, L A
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by D'HELFT, C J
Right arrow Articles by RAINFORD, L A
British Journal of Radiology 82 (2009),296-302 ©2009 The British Institute of Radiology

Potential Irish dose reference levels for cardiac interventional examinations

C J D'HELFT, PhD 1 P C BRENNAN, PhD 1 A M MCGEE, MSc 1 S L MCFADDEN, MSc 2 C M HUGHES, PhD 2 J R WINDER, PhD 3 and L A RAINFORD, PhD 3

1 School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, 2 School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Newtownabbey, UK, 3 Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Research Institute, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Newtownabbey, UK

Correspondence: C J D'Helft, School of Medicine and Medical Science, Health Sciences Building, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. E-mail: catherine.dhelft{at}ucd.ie

Collective dose for cardio-angiography studies is the highest of all non-CT radiological investigations. Deterministic effects such as erythema, epilation and ulceration being reported on patients who have undergone these procedures emphasise the importance of optimising radiation dose, whilst not compromising diagnostic efficacy. This study investigated radiation doses delivered to patients for four common types of cardiac radiological examinations: coronary angiography (CA), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), coronary angiograms (which were followed by an interventional procedure (CA-PCI)) and permanent pacemaker insertions (PPIs). 21 cardiac imaging suites participated in the study in 14 hospitals, representing 90% of relevant centres within Ireland. Radiation dose was monitored for 1804 adult patients using dose–area product meters. Operational and examination details, such as cardiologist grade, patient details, examination complexity and exposure factors, were recorded for each examination. Variation factors in dose between centres ranged from 2.7 to 11.1, but these factors were not higher than intrahospital variations previously recorded for other examinations within Ireland, such as chest X-ray. High-dose centres were often associated with long screening times, a high patient body mass index and complexity of the procedure. Preliminary dose reference levels (DRLs) were established using rounded third quartile values at 4200 cGy cm2, 8400 cGy cm2, 10 700 cGy cm2 and 2100 cGy cm2 for CA, PCI, CA-PCI and PPI, respectively. With these commonly performed relatively high-dose procedures, it is important that some guideline values are available to encourage optimised strategies. These proposed DRLs offer such guidance.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
BJR DMFR IMAGING  ALL BIR JOURNALS 
Copyright © 2009 by the British Institute of Radiology.