Patient radiation dose during atrial septal defect occluder

Abstract

Introduction Atrial septal defect (ASD) is an abnormal opening in the wall between the two atrias of the heart. A catheter-based treatment in a heamodynamic room is a well established procedure. International literature has extremely limited data on related radiation dose levels. Purpose To determine radiation dose (RD) fluoroscopy time (FT) and Number of images (I) in ASD treatment in both paediatric and adult patients in a major cardiosurgery center in Greece. Materials and methods A sample of 161 patients were included in the study, divided in the following age categories: (1) 5–10 y, (2) 10–15 y, (3) 15–18;y and (4) >18 y. The X-ray machine used was a Siemens Artis Zee digital flat panel system. Various clinical (weight, body mass index, (BMI), etc.) and radiation related data (Kerma Area Product (KAP), fluoroscopy time (T) and number of images (F)) were recorded. Results Median W (kg), BMI (kg/m 2 ), KAP (Gycm 2 ), T (min) and F for the 4 weight categories were: (1) 25, 15.5, 5.8, 6.6 and 639, (2) 50, 21.5, 9.3, 4.6 and 409 (3) 58.5, 21.2, 11.6, 5.7 and 575 and finally (4) 58.0, 19.5, 5.8, 3.2 and 639. The correlation of various factors with KAP was investigated. Apart from fluoroscopy time there was no other factor that significantly correlated with radiation dose. Conclusion This study presents age-stratified radiation data for ASD occluder heart catheterizations. Fluoroscopy time or number of images are not adequate measures for monitoring radiation exposure. These values will be used as baseline for our future research on the subject.