Dose to persons assisting voluntarily during X-ray examinations of large animals

Pet owners often assist voluntarily while their pets are being X-rayed during a medical examination. Medical staff members occupationally exposed to radiation are monitored regularly, as they wear personal dosemeters, whereas no dose measurements are carried out on voluntarily assisting persons, as measurements are both cost- and time-intensive. However, the dose limits prescribed in the German radiation protection regulations have to be observed for these volunteers as well. To assist the legislator in deciding whether the German regulation should be changed so that in future the dose of voluntarily assisting persons should also be determined-either by wearing a dosemeter or in another way-investigations with regard to the radiation dose exposure suffered by volunteers were performed within the scope of a research project. The personal dose equivalent Hp(10) for persons assisting knowingly and willingly in X-ray examinations in veterinary medicine was measured for different examination scenarios. Typical exposure situations have been identified and measurements performed in the field of scattered X-rays. The measurements were carried out on animals in veterinary practices and, to verify these measurements, also under laboratory conditions. This paper deals with X-ray examinations of large animals, with the focus especially on horses. The measured personal dose equivalent values of voluntary helpers in equine radiology are in the order of a few microsieverts.