Effect of fluoroscopically imaged body part on patient and staff dose

While historically x-ray guided procedures were performed within imaging departments by radiologists, fluoroscopy has migrated beyond the confines of x-ray departments and is performed in an ever-increasing range of medical specialities. As the numbers and types of procedures performed by non-radiologists grow, so does the need for dedicated fluoroscopic rooms beyond their traditional location. There is increasing concern over the radiation exposure during fluoroscopic procedures due to the potentially detrimental effects to both the patient and staff involved.

This research compares patient and staff dose levels during fluoroscopic procedures performed within the chest, abdomen, pelvis, arms and legs by cardiologists and vascular surgeons.

This dataset was produced as part of Kelly Wilson-Stewart's PhD, 'Factors which influence occupational radiation head and eye dose to in-room personnel during angiographic procedures'. 

Kelly's Ph.D. project aims to quantify the levels of temple dose to staff during diagnostic and interventional cardiac and endovascular procedures utilising fluoroscopy.  An additional focus will be placed on reporting on factors that may influence occupational dose levels to nurses and other in-room staff.

The following people were involved in the supervision of this project design and manuscript preparation:

Davide Fontanarosa:

School of Clinical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
Centre for Biomedical Technologies (CBT), Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia

Jamie V. Trapp:

School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia

The following person was involved in statistical analysis, data curation and manuscript preparation:

Eva Malacova:

QMIR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 200 Herston Road, Herston, QLD, 4006, Australia
Centre for Biomedical Technologies (CBT), Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia

The data owner would like to thank her nursing, radiography, and medical colleagues from the cardio-vascular suites at Greenslopes Private Hospital for their contributions towards data collection during this research. The data owner gratefully also acknowledges the support provided by the Australian Commonwealth Government in the form of a research stipend.