title: Evaluation of the effectiveness of X-ray protective aprons in experimental and practical fields.
abstract: Few practical evaluation studies have been conducted on X-ray protective aprons in workplaces. We examined the effects of exchanging the protective apron type with regard to exposure reduction in experimental and practical fields, and discuss the effectiveness of X-ray protective aprons. Experimental field evaluations were performed by the measurement of the X-ray transmission rates of protective aprons. Practical field evaluations were performed by the estimation of the differences in the transit doses before and after the apron exchange. A 0.50-mm lead-equivalent-thick non-lead apron had the lowest transmission rate among the 7 protective aprons, but weighed 10.9 kg and was too heavy. The 0.25 and 0.35-mm lead-equivalent-thick non-lead aprons differed little in the practical field of interventional radiology. The 0.35-mm lead apron had lower X-ray transmission rates and transit doses than the 0.25-mm lead-equivalent-thick non-lead apron, and each of these differences exceeded 8% in the experimental field and approximately 0.15 mSv/month in the practical field of computed tomography (p < 0.01). Therefore, we concluded that the 0.25-mm lead-equivalent-thick aprons and 0.35-mm lead apron are effective for interventional radiology operators and computed tomography nurses, respectively.
authors: Department of Radiology, Hokkaido Social Insurance Hospital, 1-8-3-18 Nakanoshima, Toyohira, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 062-8618, Japan, 8598fbjq@jcom.home.ne.jp.
authors: Hiroshige
authors: H
authors: Mori
authors: Kichiro
authors: K
authors: Koshida
authors: Osamu
authors: O
authors: Ishigamori
authors: Kosuke
authors: K
authors: Matsubara
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000528:radiation effects; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis; D011481:Protective Clothing; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015642:Radiology, Interventional; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D007854:Lead