Assessment of Newer Radiation Dose Reduction Techniques During Coronary Angiography

Aims To evaluate the impact of Allura Clarity technology on radiation exposure in patients undergoing diagnostic coronary angiography. Methods A retrospective analysis was undertaken of invasive coronary angiograms performed by a single experienced operator in Cork University Hospital (CUH) (Allura Xper FD10 angiography system). In order to reduce operator variability, we also analysed cases performed by the same operator in the Bon Secours Hospital Cork (BSHC) (Allura Clarity FD10 angiography system). Cases were selected consecutively, having excluded those involving percutaneous coronary intervention, graft studies, aortography, ventriculography, right heart studies or fractional flow reserve studies. Results A total of 178 patients were included, equally distributed between the CUH arm (n=89) and the BSHC arm (n=89). Cohorts were very well matched in terms of age, gender, Body Mass Index, and procedural approach. The median radiation dose in CUH was a Dose Area Product (DAP) of 10,460 mGy.cm2 vs. median DAP of 12,795 mGy.cm2 in BSHC (p=0.148). The median fluoroscopy time in CUH was 2.25mins vs. median fluoroscopy time of 2.17mins in BSHC (p=0.675). Conclusion The use of the Allura Clarity system for diagnostic coronary angiography did not result in a significant difference in radiation dose or fluoroscopy time when compared to the reference Allura Xper system. Further research is needed to investigate the benefit of this new image noise reduction technology in diagnostic coronary angiography.