title: Patient skin dosimetry in haemodynamic and electrophysiology interventional cardiology.
abstract: With the increase in number and complexity of interventional cardiology (IC) procedures, it is important to monitor skin dose in order to decrease skin injuries. This study investigated radiation doses for patients undergoing IC procedures, compare results with the literature and define a local dose-area product trigger level for operators to identify situations likely to exceed the threshold for transient skin erythema of 2 Gy. Dosimetric data were collected for 77 haemodynamic and 90 electrophysiological procedures. Mean maximum local skin doses (MSDs) were 0.28 Gy for coronary angiography, 1.03 Gy for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), 0.03 Gy for pacemaker insertion, 0.17 Gy for radiofrequency ablation for nodal tachycardia, 0.10 Gy for WPW and 0.22 Gy for atrial flutter. Since MSD values for the other procedures were well below the deterministic effect limit, a trigger level of 140 Gy cm2 was derived for PTCA procedures alone.
authors.affiliation: Medical Physics Department, S. Maria della Misericordia Hospital, Piazzale S. Maria della Misericordia, 11, 33100 Udine, Italy. trianni.annalisa@aoud.sanita.fvg.it
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trianni
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chizzola
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Toh
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Quai
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cragnolini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bernardi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Proclemer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Padovani
mesh_terms: D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary / Q000379:methods; D002309:Cardiology / Q000379:methods*; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods*; D005471:Fluoroscopy; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection; D015642:Radiology, Interventional / Q000379:methods*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014962:X-Ray Film