title: Fundamental study of a real-time occupational dosimetry system for interventional radiology staff.
abstract: Real-time monitoring of the radiation doses received by interventional radiology (IR) staff has become highly desirable. However, occupational doses are rarely measured in real time, due to the lack of a feasible method for use in IR. Recently, the i2 system by RaySafe™ has been introduced to measure occupational exposure in IR in real time. The i2 system consists of several personal dosimeters (PDs) and a base station with a display and computer interfacing. We evaluated the fundamental performance (dose linearity, dose-rate dependence, angular dependence, batch uniformity and reproducibility) of the i2 system. The dose linearity of the i2 was excellent (R(2) = 1.00) The i2 exhibited slight dose-rate dependence (~20%) at very high dose rates (250 mGy h(-1)). Little angular dependence (within 20%) was observed between 0° and ±45°, in either the vertical or horizontal direction. We also found that the PD was highly sensitive (about 200%) at angles behind it, e.g. 180°. However, this backscattered radiation is not a problem, in general, due to the placement of the i2 sensor (PD) on the lead apron. We conclude that the i2 system facilitates accurate real-time monitoring and management of occupational doses during IR.
authors.affiliation: Course of Radiological Technology, Health Sciences, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo, Aoba, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan.
authors.forename: Yohei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Inaba
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chida
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kaga
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zuguchi
mesh_terms: D003199:Computer Systems; D016272:Occupational Health; D015642:Radiology, Interventional; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation*