Eye lens dose correlations with personal dose equivalent and patient exposure in paediatric interventional cardiology...

To analyse the correlations between the eye lens dose estimates performed with dosimeters placed next to the eyes of paediatric interventional cardiologists working with a biplane system, the personal dose equivalent measured on the thorax and the patient dose.

The eye lens dose was estimated in terms of H_p(0.07) on a monthly basis, placing optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters (OSLDs) on goggles. The H_p(0.07) personal dose equivalent was measured over aprons with whole-body OSLDs. Data on patient dose as recorded by the kerma-area product (P_KA) were collected using an automatic dose management system. The 2 paediatric cardiologists working in the facility were involved in the study, and 222 interventions in a 1-year period were evaluated. The ceiling-suspended screen was often disregarded during interventions.

The annual eye lens doses estimated on goggles were 4.13±0.93 and 4.98±1.28mSv. Over the aprons, the doses obtained were 10.83±0.99 and 11.97±1.44mSv. The correlation between the goggles and the apron dose was R²=0.89, with a ratio of 0.38. The correlation with the patient dose was R²=0.40, with a ratio of 1.79μSvGy^-1cm^-2. The dose per procedure obtained over the aprons was 102±16μSv, and on goggles 40±9μSv. The eye lens dose normalized to P_KA was 2.21±0.58μSvGy^-1cm^-2.

Measurements of personal dose equivalent over the paediatric cardiologist's apron are useful to estimate eye lens dose levels if no radiation protection devices are typically used.