title: Interventional cardiovascular procedures in Belgium: effective dose and conversion factors.
abstract: Effective dose (E), representing the risk of late radiation-induced effects, can be estimated by the use of conversion factors (CF), converting direct measurable quantities such as dose-area-product into E. Eight Belgian hospitals participated in the study with a total number of 318 procedures. E-values, calculated with PCXMC, were compared for the different hospitals for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures separately. E-values varied significantly depending on the hospital where the procedure was performed (P < 0.001), on filtration insertion (P < 0.001), on whether a centre is a training centre or not, the dose conscious action of the cardiologists and the complexity of the procedure (P < 0.001). Hospital-specific CF were calculated. An average CF of 0.185 mSv Gycm(-2) was obtained with a satisfactory correlation (r = 0.966, P < 0.001). The differences in CF between hospitals were due to, a large extent, the availability of additional filtration in cinegraphy mode (P < 0.001) and not to the differences in irradiation geometries in the clinical protocol of the interventional procedures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics and Radiation Protection, University of Ghent, Proeftuinstraat 86, B-9000 Gent, Belgium. evelien.bogaert@ugent.be
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bogaert
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bacher
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thierens
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001530:Belgium; D002309:Cardiology / Q000379:methods*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005260:Female; D005471:Fluoroscopy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D015642:Radiology, Interventional / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging