An Evaluation of the Organ Dose Received by Cardiologists Arising from Angiography and Angioplasty Examinations in Two Educational Hospitals in Mashhad

In recent years, the applications of interventional techniques (angiography) have rapidly been increased. To perform these procedures, the cardiologists have to stay close to the radiation field for a long screening time. Therefore, they are prone to receive relatively high doses of radiation. The magnitude of the dose received per procedure depends on several factors such as the type of X-ray equipment and of course the approach adopted by the cardiologist to perform the examination. In this study, the doses received by the organs of interest were measured at two educational hospitals in Mashhad. The measurements were carried out for 98 coronary angiography (CA) and 31 precutaneaus transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) procedures (55 CA and 18 PTCA were performed at hospital A and 43 CA and 13 PTCA at hospital B). Five and seven cardiologists were assessed at hospital A and B, respectively. The dose received by their thyroid, gonads, right and left hand was measured by thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD). For this purpose, TLDs were placed in PMMA holders and were mounted on their wrists of both hands, underneath of the lead shield adjacent to gonads and thyroid. The mean dose received by the organs (thyroid, gonads, right and left hands) of individual cardiologist was determined. In coronary angiography the highest mean dose received by thyroid and gonads were 100.3 µSv and 83.6 µSv, respectively. The mean left hand dose was in the range of 31.8-358.7 µSv and the corresponding range for the right hand was 12-124 µSv. In PTCA, the lowest mean dose of thyroid, gonads, the right and left hands were 18.7, 20, 69 and 152.1 µSv, respectively and the highest corresponding values were 58.7, 46.7, 119.4 and 245.8 µSv.Discussion and In this study, no significant difference was detected between hospital A and B (P<0.05). Based on the calculated dose values, it can be concluded that each cardiologist should on the average, perform no more than 25 angiography cases per week, to avoid exceeding the dose equivalent limits recommended by ICRP-60.