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Assessment of Patient and Occupational Dose in Established and New Applications of MDCT Fluoroscopy

¹ All authors: Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Leiden, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands.

OBJECTIVE. This study aimed to assess patient dose and occupational dose in established and new applications of MDCT fluoroscopy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. Electronic personal dosimeters were used to measure occupational dose equivalent. Effective patient dose was derived from the recorded dose–length product. Acquisition parameters that were observed during CT fluoroscopy (CTF) provided the basis for the estimation of an entrance skin dose profile. Two hundred ten CT-guided interventional procedures were included in the study.

RESULTS. The median effective patient dose was 10 mSv (range, 0.1–235 mSv; 107 procedures). The median peak entrance skin dose was 0.4 Sv (0.1–2.1 Sv; 27 procedures). From 547 measurements of occupational dose equivalent, a median occupational effective dose of 3 µSv per procedure was derived for the interventional radiologists and 0.4 µSv per procedure for the assisting radiologists and radiology technologists. The estimated maximum occupational effective dose reached 0.4 mSv.

CONCLUSION. The study revealed high effective patient doses, up to 235 mSv, mainly for relatively new applications such as CTF-guided radiofrequency ablations using MDCT, vertebroplasty, and percutaneous ethanol injections of tumors. Entrance doses were occasionally in the range of the warning level for deterministic skin effects but were always below the threshold for serious deterministic effects. The complexity of the procedure, expected benefits of the treatment, and general health state of the patient contribute to the justification of observed high effective patient doses.

Keywords: MDCT fluoroscopy • occupational radiation dose • patient radiation dose • radiation safety

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