Radiation doses to the population of the Emilia-Romagna region from medical exposures.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to supplement the analysis of data related to conventional radiography (CR), computed tomography (CT) and nuclear medicine (NM) with those related to interventional radiology (IR), and illustrate the contribution of all these radiological procedures to radiation exposure of the Emilia-Romagna population in Italy.


METHODS
We gathered information about the number and mean doses of 30 interventional procedures performed in 17 hospitals of the Emilia-Romagna region. Seven hospitals were selected, and requests were made for numerical values of the dose-area product (DAP) in various IR procedures measured in the field. From these values, we calculated the 2006 annual collective effective dose (S), per-procedure dose and total dose, as well as the average per-capita dose to the Emilia-Romagna population.


RESULTS
The 20 procedures amongst CR, CT, NM and IR that in 2006 contributed the most to Emilia-Romagna population radiation dose are described in detail: CR, CT, NM and IR contribute to approximately 10%, 66%, 9% and 15% of the total dose, and to 70%, 21%, 3% and 6% of procedure frequency, respectively. The S and average per-capita doses were 5,237 person-Sv and 1.2 mSv, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
IR procedures deliver high doses to the patient. Therefore, the same attention should be paid to radiation protection as with other high-dose examinations. As IR operators are often not radiologists, special attention should be paid to education in radiation protection of the professionals involved.
U.O. Fisica Sanitaria, Policlinico S. Orsola Malpighi, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Via Massarenti 9, 40138, Bologna, Italy. gaetano.compagnone@aosp.bo.it
G
G
Compagnone
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P
Angelini
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S
Domenichelli
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D009683:Nuclear Medicine; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection; D015641:Radiography, Interventional; D011874:Radiometry; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed