Patient radiation management and preprocedure planning and consent

Protection of patients from excessive medical radiation has become a high priority in health care. As clinical physicians, interventional radiologists must remain cognizant of the radiation we use in daily practice. Radiation reduction begins before the procedure itself, as with appropriate preprocedural planning the amount of fluoroscopy and angiography used can then be reduced. Patients should be counseled regarding the potential for use of significant amounts of radiation when procedures associated with such doses are planned, as part of the process of obtaining informed consent. If significant radiation is used, patients should be alerted to have appropriate follow-up. The amount of radiation used can be reduced by careful attention to imaging technique.