Evaluation of Radiation Exposure on Physicians During Angioplasty for Hemodialysis Access Dysfunction

Percutaneous interventions help patients with various cardiovascular diseases, however radiation exposure is a safety concern for both patients and health care providers. We previously reported that dose area product (DAP) is apparently different in central body and upper-limb areas during percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for arteriovenous shunt dysfunction. In this study, we investigated the precise radiation dose at the patients' back and at the non-targeted organs of the operators.

The radiation dose was measured with optically stimulated luminescent dosimeters and DAP on several sites including the backs of the patients, gonads, hands and lens of the operators. The studied populations were categorized into central, upper arm and forearm groups based on the lesion sites.

The results indicated that there was a significantly higher radiation dose in the central lesion group than in the upper arm and forearm groups. Conversely, there were no specific differences in total procedure time and fluoroscopy time among groups. The radiation exposure doses in the operators showed that regardless of the site, including lens, hands and gonads of the operators, the radiation dose was significantly higher in the central lesion group.

The closer the lesion site to the body center, the higher the radiation exposure in both the patients and operators.