Radiation Protection of X-Ray Rooms

Abstract

*Presented at the conference “Biomedpribor-2000”. Moscow Scientific-Practical Center for Medical Radiology, Moscow, Russia; E-mail: chikirdin@rpcmr.org.ru One of the most complicated and important tasks in designing medical X-ray rooms is to calculate the parameters for radiation safety. Generaland specificpurpose X-ray rooms can contain various numbers of sections: 1) treatment room only; 2) treatment room and control room; 3) treatment room, control room, and photographic laboratory; 4) treatment room, control room, registration office, physician’s room, etc. The treatment room is the main part of the X-ray room where all diagnostic and treatment procedures are performed. The X-ray radiation source is placed in the treatment room. Thus, calculation of parameters for the radiation protection of the X-ray treatment room is a very important task. The lead equivalent for the required radiation protection of the treatment room must be determined. Radiation protection is provided by stationary structural units of the X-ray room as well as by protective doors and shutters. In the 1920s, the lead equivalent for required radiation protection had been set at a level of 3-5 mm depending on the X-ray source (tube) power. The first calculation of the radiation protection parameters based on serious study of the problem was performed in the 1960s by Professor R. V. Stavitskii. The results of the calculations were adopted by the USSR Ministry of Health [3]. The calculations were based on the dependence of the lead layer thickness dlead providing given attenuation K (mA⋅h/m⋅mR) on the X-ray tube voltage U (kV):