Radiation exposure of interventional cardiologists during coronary angiography: evaluation by phantom measurement and computer simulation

During interventional cardiological procedures, operators are exposed to patients’ scatter radiation. Therefore, we measured the radiation exposure of the operator’s eyeball, thyroid, and chest wall during angiography. We used the optically stimulated luminescence dosimeter in the anthropomorphic phantom and developed Monte Carlo simulations using the Korean human voxel phantom. At 15 frames/s, the radiation dose of the operator’s right eyeball (RE), left eyeball (LE), thyroid (T), and chest wall (CW) at the femoral artery puncture position (FAPP) with protective equipment (PE) was 0.015, 0.16, 0.012, and 0.014 mGy, respectively. At 7.5 frames/sec, the radiation dose of the operator’s RE, LE, T, and CW at FAPP with PE was 33.33%, 18.75%, 52.94%, and 45.00% lower than that of those at the radial artery puncture position (RAPP), respectively. At 15 frames/s, the radiation dose of the operator’s RE, LE, T, and CW at RAPP without PE was 1.76 times, 2.23 times, 2.76 times, and 2.05 times higher than that of those with PE. Per the simulation results, the absorbed radiation dose of the eye ball, thyroid gland, and myocardium of the heart at FAPP with and without PE under 15 frame/s was 9.68%, 13.04%, 8.33% and 9.98%, 6.00%, 8.82% lower than at RAPP under similar conditions. Effective measures for occupational radiological protection are lower frame rate exposure, increased distance from the X-ray source, and PE use. Radiologist protection in interventional cardiology cannot be handled independently of patient protection, owing to several correlations; thus, reducing the patient dose will reduce the operator dose.