Clinical apparatus for the reduction of dose area product for patients undergoing x-ray catheterization.

Abstract

The authors describe a design for prepatient region of interest attenuators (ROIAs) to reduce dose area product (DAP) for clinical use. The authors describe a model to predict DAP values from x-ray technique parameters recorded during a clinical procedure for image sequences obtained in the presence or absence of ROIAs. The model was developed primarily to determine what the DAP to a patient undergoing cardiac catheterization with a ROIA would have been if no ROIA had been used allowing a determination of DAP reduction. Copper ROIAs with thicknesses that vary gradually so as not to cause significant image artifacts were constructed. X-ray image sequences were acquired on a clinical catheterization system with and without ROIAs with varying x-ray technique parameters. DAP values were measured for all said exposures using an ionization chamber and compared to a model the authors developed. The model can predict DAP values within 3.5% on average with or without ROIAs when compared to ionization chamber measurements. The proposed experimental design is adequate for measuring DAP reductions on the order of 1.5-3.5 that are expected when introducing a ROIA during patient catheterization imaging.