Conversion factors between whole-body and organ doses in interventional cardiology: an italian multicentre study

The increasing use of ionizing radiation in interventional cardiology raises the need for reliable estimates of operator exposure, particularly for organs such as the eyes and hands. This retrospective study analyzed personal dosimetry records from interventional cardiologists working in three Italian hospitals. A total of 1,897 valid dosimetry measurements were analyzed across three centres, including whole-body Hp(10), eye lens Hp(3), and extremity Hp(0.07) doses. We derived the following conversion factors by using the third quartile of the ratio distributions from all centres: Hp(3)/Hp(10):1.1 and Hp(0.07)/Hp(10): 2.7. However, our data show high variability across all centres, which probably reflects differences in procedure complexity and operator positioning observed in routine interventional cardiology practice. These findings support the use of whole-body dosimetry as a practical surrogate for organ dose assessment when eye lens or extremity monitoring is unavailable. The proposed conversion factors (Hp(3)/Hp(10) = 1.1 and Hp(0.07)/Hp(10) = 2.7) provide a conservative and field-applicable tool to retrospectively estimate lens and hand doses in cases of incomplete dosimetry.