title: Assessment of the occupational exposure in real time during interventional cardiology procedures.
abstract: Interventional cardiology (IC) procedures can be complex, requiring the operators to work near the patient, during long exposure times. Owing to scattered radiation in the patient and the fluoroscopic equipment, the medical staff are exposed to a non-uniform radiation field and can receive high radiation doses. In this study, it is proposed to analyse staff doses obtained in real time, during IC procedures. A system for occupational dosimetry in real time was used. In order to identify some parameters that may affect the staff doses, Monte Carlo (MC) calculations, using MCNPX v.2.7.0 code and voxel phantoms, were performed. The data obtained from measurements, together with MC simulations, allowed the identification of actions and behaviours of the medical staff that could be considered a risk under routine working conditions. The implementation of this monitoring system for exposure of personnel may have a positive effect on optimisation of radiological protection in fluoroscopically guided cardiac procedures.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada Nacional 10, km 139,7, 2695-066 Bobadela LRS, Portugal marianabaptista@ctn.ist.utl.pt.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baptista
authors.affiliation: Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada Nacional 10, km 139,7, 2695-066 Bobadela LRS, Portugal.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Figueira
authors.affiliation: Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada Nacional 10, km 139,7, 2695-066 Bobadela LRS, Portugal.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Teles
authors.affiliation: Hospital Garcia de Orta, EPE, Av. Torrado da Silva, 2801-951 Almada, Portugal.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Zentrum München-German Research Center for Environmental Health, Medical Radiation Physics and Diagnostics, 85758 Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zankl
authors.affiliation: Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada Nacional 10, km 139,7, 2695-066 Bobadela LRS, Portugal.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vaz
mesh_terms: D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000379:methods*; D002309:Cardiology / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005471:Fluoroscopy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008503:Medical Staff; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011174:Portugal; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D000069079:Radiation Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D015642:Radiology, Interventional / Q000379:methods*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D014965:X-Rays