Fostering Communication Between Physicians and Patients

Abstract

Imagine what it must be like to have a child with a condition that calls for treatment involving multiple interventional radiology procedures that result in upwards of one hour of fluoroscopy time and/or digital subtraction angiography to portions of the scalp and face. Depending on the operating parameters of the fluoroscopy device, the dose to the skin will range from approximately 0.02–0.04 Gy min−1. Therefore, under some circumstances, the 2 Gy threshold dose for temporary epilation is surpassed during one procedure. Now imagine the horror that both an underage patient and his or her parents experience when, two to three weeks after the procedure, significant clumps of hair fall from the child's head. It is inexcusable yet fairly common for interventional radiologists and other medical practitioners involved in these types of procedures to fail to take a few minutes to prepare patients and their families for this possibility. All health physicists working in medical facilities as well as other radiation safety professionals with access to physicians who use radiation-generating devices should be proactive in stressing to these physicians the importance of notifying their patients about acute radiation health effects when such effects are possible.