Entrance surface dose in cerebral interventional radiology procedures

Abstract

During interventional radiology procedures patients receive doses which exceed thresholds for non-stochastic effects on the skin, such as erythema (2 Gy) and epilation (3 Gy), so the entrance surface dose imparted during these proceedings should be monitored. The aim of this work was to determine the entrance surface dose (ESD) in patients who undergo diagnostic or therapeutic procedures at the Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía (INNN). The procedures were performed using two systems for neuroradiology, an Axiom Artis and an Artis Zeego from Siemens. The ESD was measured, for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, using 15 × 15 cm2 of Gafchromic XR-RV3 film and/or 25 TLD-100 chips that were attached in a holder of 15 × 15 cm2 in the posteroanterior and left and right lateral positions during all the procedures. The results show that the maximum ESD measured was lower than 1 Gy for the nine diagnostic procedures evaluated whereas four of the ten therapeutic procedures were greater than 2 Gy in at least one position. Seven patients were monitored, three of which have presented epilation and one erythema.