The Effect of Obese Patients on the Occupational Doses in Interventional Radiology
摘要
Interventional radiology (IR) is well known for high occupational doses as the professionals stay close to the patient during the length of the procedure. While imaging obese patients high tube voltages and prolonged procedures are often required, which might affect occupational exposures. In this work, effective and equivalent doses were evaluated for the main and the assistant physicians during coronary angiography procedures for different patient sizes. Doses were calculated using the Monte Carlo Method coupled with virtual anthropomorphic phantoms in an IR suit. Radiation filed size was 24.3 cm2, with tube voltages of 80 and 100 kV and projections PA, LAO45, RLAT and RAO30. The results showed that the professionals receive very similar doses in spite of patient size in all projections. Occupational doses are higher while treating obese patients mainly due to higher tube voltages. The most critical projection was RLAT, since it allows primary radiation to reach the professionals. Highest effective doses found were 3.04 µSv for the main physician and 2.85 µSv for the assistant, both in RLAT projection. For both professionals, the eye lens received one of the highest equivalent doses, even with the use of lead protective glasses. Occupational exposures are increased when higher tube voltages are required, such as in the case of an obese patient. The results show the importance of the use of protective equipment by professionals and suggest the use of different protocols for several patient BMI.