Will X-ray Safety Glasses Become Mandatory for Radiological Vascular Interventions?

Abstract

The annual permissible radiation ocular lens dose has been reduced to 20 millisieverts (mSv) in the current European directive 2013/59/Euratom. The aim of this study was to evaluate the personal radiation dose for vascular interventions with special focus on ocular lens dose. From May 2016 to October 2016, the personal radiation doses of two interventionists and four technicians were prospectively recorded during 206 vascular interventions. The position of personnel, intervention type and fluoroscopy time were recorded. Parameters evaluated were total body dose measured by film dosimeter, hand dose measured by ring thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) and ocular lens dose measured by TLD placed in front of the safety glasses. Linear regression analysis was used to estimate the dose at 2 and 5years. The ocular lens dose, hand and total body dose of the two interventionists were 11/5, 56/47 and 0.6mSv each, respectively. The estimated 5-year ocular dose was 113.08mSv (95% CI 38.2-187.97)/40.95 (95% CI 16.9-64.7). Similarly, hand dose was 608.4mSv (95% CI 442.78-774.38)/514.47 (95% CI 329.83-699.10) and body dose 6.07mSv (95% CI 4.70-8.22)/5.12 (95% CI 3.65-6.59), respectively. Amongst four technicians, only the first assistant showed recordings of 0.3mSv body dose, 2mSv ocular lens dose and 5mSv hand dose. The yearly ocular lens dose, particularly for interventionists dealing with complex interventions, could cross the permitted yearly limit set by the new Euratom directive. Therefore, X-ray safety glasses would become mandatory for complex radiological vascular interventions. Level III, non-randomized controlled cohort/follow-up study.