Audit of radiation dose to patients during coronary angiography.
BACKGROUND
There is widespread concern about radiation doses imparted to patients during cardiology procedures in the medical community. The current study intends to audit and optimize radiation dose to patients undergoing coronary angiography (CA) performed using two dedicated cardiovascular machines.


METHODS
One hundred and forty nine patients who underwent CA are reported in this study. Dose auditing was done by implementing dose reduction strategies using spectral filters and by evaluating work practices of operators involved in performing CA.


METHODS
A Student's 't' test was used to analyze the statistical significance.


CONCLUSIONS
The radiation dose imparted to patients was measured using dose area product (DAP) meter. The mean DAP values during CA before optimization was 55.86 Gy cm2 and after optimization was 27.71 Gy cm2. No ill-effects of radiation were reported for patients who underwent CA. Use of copper filtration may be recommended for procedures performed using cardiovascular machines.
Livingstone
Roshan S
RS
Department of Radiology, Christian Medical College, Vellore - 632 004, India. roshanlivingstone@yahoo.com
Chandy
Sunil
S
Peace
Timothy B S
TB
George
Paul V
PV
John
Bobby
B
Pati
Purendra
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005471:Fluoroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods*; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness