Radiation exposure in vascular angiographic procedures

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Interventional Cardiology

Background:

• Vascular angiographic procedures often involve significant radiation exposure.
• Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) frames are commonly used for documentation, contributing to patient dose.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the potential for radiation dose reduction in vascular angiography.
• To evaluate the efficacy of using fluoroscopy capture instead of DSA frames for procedure documentation.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 764 consecutive vascular interventional procedures.
• Evaluation of fluoroscopy time, dose-area product (DAP) from fluoroscopy, DAP from radiographic frames, and overall DAP.

Main Results:

• Radiographic frames accounted for 70% of the total dose-area product (DAP).
• Fluoroscopy contributed only 30% to the total DAP.
• Significant dose reduction is achievable by minimizing DSA frame acquisition.

Conclusions:

• Fluoroscopy capture is a viable and recommended method for documentation in vascular angiography to reduce radiation exposure.
• Establishing a comprehensive radiation exposure registry requires diverse intervention types and a substantial number of procedures to develop interventional reference levels.