Radiation Exposure to the Brains of Interventional Radiology Staff: A Phantom Study

Numerous papers report the occurrence of head and neck tumors in interventional radiology (IR) physicians. Recently, appropriate dosimetry and protection have become much more important. To accomplish these, first, we should accurately understand how the brain is exposed. We assessed the dose distribution of the head and clarified the relationship between head exposure and brain dose. We used eight radiophotoluminescence dosimeters (RPLDs), two at the surface of the eyes and six inside the phantom head. We conducted measurements with three kinds of irradiation fields: one irradiated the whole head, the second irradiated the brain region, and the third irradiated the soft tissue of the face. The cranial bone reduced the brain dose to less than half the skin dose: about 48% at the front and less than 9% at the back of the brain. Due to the brain exposure, the soft tissues were slightly exposed to the scatter radiation from the cranial bone. We revealed the dose distribution of the head and the influence of the scatter radiation from the cranial bone and the soft tissues of the face. There are two kinds of scatter radiation: from the cranial bone to the soft tissue of the face, and from the soft tissue to the brain. Although the influence of these sources of scatter radiation is not significant, the relationship between brain exposure and the occurrence of head and neck tumors is still unclear. Therefore, some IR physicians should keep this in mind if they receive high levels of exposure in their daily practice.