Impact of Operators' Height on Individual Radiation Exposure Measurements During Catheter-Based Cardiovascular...

This study is aimed to evaluate the impact of an operators' height on personal radiation exposure measurements during cardiovascular interventional procedures. Based upon both clinical data and phantom simulation, a new approach for monitoring an individual's exposure is proposed.

The clinical component of this study was composed of the operators and staff in a single center full service cardiovascular laboratory being divided into 2 groups based upon their height: group A included all individuals whose height was <165 cm; group B included the individuals >165 cm. All operators wore a standard TLD dosimeter at all times with doses recorded for 12 months. To support these clinical findings, a second investigation was performed utilizing a phantom. Measurements were obtained at 100 and 135 cm from the radiation source during simulation of different cardiovascular interventional procedures.

The radiation dose measured from the personal dosimeters identified that Group A, operators <165 cm, had significantly higher doses than those recorded in Group B, operators >165 cm, when compared among individuals performing similar tasks (physicians, technicians, and nurses): 4.55 ± 4.0 (Group A) versus 1.95 ± 1.0 (Group B) mSv (P < 0.01). During procedure simulation with the phantom, the doses measured were similarly significantly higher if measured at 100 cm than at 135 cm from the radiation source.

This study suggests that the height from radiation source does impact the measured dose from an operator worn personal TLD. This was operator specific, consistent thought-out multiple procedures, and confined with phantom measurements.