Radiation dose to the operator during fluoroscopically guided spine procedures.

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Radiology
• Interventional Procedures

Background:

• Fluoroscopy is essential for guiding spine interventions.
• Operator radiation exposure is a significant concern in interventional radiology.
• Quantifying this exposure is crucial for radiation safety protocols.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify operator Air Kerma during various fluoroscopy-guided spine procedures.
• To determine the correlation between operator Air Kerma and patient radiation dose (Kerma Area Product-KAP).
• To establish a predictive relationship for operator radiation exposure.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 57 fluoroscopically guided spine procedures.
• Recorded Kerma Area Product (KAP) and fluoroscopy time for each procedure.
• Measured operator Air Kerma using electronic dosimeters.

Main Results:

• Median operator Air Kerma was 6.4 μGy per procedure.
• Median fluoroscopy time was 2.6 minutes and median KAP was 4.7 Gy cm².
• Strong correlations were found between operator Air Kerma and KAP (r²=0.60) and fluoroscopy time and KAP (r²=0.63).

Conclusions:

• Operator Air Kerma can be reliably approximated using patient KAP.
• This finding aids in estimating and managing operator radiation exposure during spine procedures.
• Facilitates improved radiation safety assessments in interventional fluoroscopy.