title: A safety radiation marker in the cardiac catheterization lab.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Nowadays, in order to deal with cardiovascular disease, coronary angiography (CRA) is the best tool and gold standard for diagnosis and assessment. CRA inevitably exposes both patient and operator to radiation. The purpose of this study was to calculate the radiation exposure in association with the radiation absorbed by interventional cardiologists, in order to estimate a safety radiation marker in the catheterization laboratory.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 794 successive patients undergoing CRA and in three interventional cardiologists the following parameters were examined: radioscopy duration, radiation exposure during fluoroscopy, total radiation exposure and the number of stents per procedure. Every interventional cardiologist was exposed to 562,936 μGym2 of total radiation during CRA procedures, to 833,371 μGym2 during elective CRA + percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures and to 328,250 μGym2 during primary CRA + PCI. Hence, the total amount of radiation that every angiographer was exposed to amounted to 1,724,557.5 μGym2 (median values). During the same period, the average radiation that every angiographer absorbed was 15,253 while the average dose of radiation absorbed during one procedure was 0.06 mSv for each operator. Therefore, the ratio between radiation exposure and the radiation finally absorbed by every operator was 113:1 μGym2/mSv.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study, indicating the ratio above, offers a safety marker in order to realistically estimate the dose absorbed by interventional cardiologists, suggesting a specified number of permitted procedures and an effective level of radiation use protection tools.
authors.forename: Peggy M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Kostakou
authors.forename: Dimitris S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Damaskos
authors.forename: Anna G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Dagre
authors.forename: Georgios A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Makavos
authors.forename: Christophoros D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Olympios
mesh_terms: D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D002309:Cardiology / Q000379:methods; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D005471:Fluoroscopy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D006115:Greece; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis / Q000517:prevention & control; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000592:standards*; D062645:Percutaneous Coronary Intervention / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011870:Radiologic Health / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015607:Stents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Radiation; cardiac catheterization laboratory; coronary angiography; implanted stent; radioprotection; safety marker