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Radiation dose to the operator during fluoroscopically guided spine procedures

  • Spinal Neuroradiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Fluoroscopy is widely used to guide diagnostic and therapeutic spine procedures. The purpose of this study was to quantify radiation incident on the operator (operator Air Kerma) during a wide range of fluoroscopy-guided spine procedures and its correlation with the amount of radiation incident on the patient (Kerma Area Product—KAP).

Methods

We retrospectively included 57 consecutive fluoroscopically guided spine procedures. KAP [Gy cm2] and total fluoroscopy time were recorded for each procedure. An electronic dosimeter recorded the operator Air Kerma [μGy] for each procedure. Operator Air Kerma for each procedure, correlation between KAP and operator Air Kerma, and between KAP and fluoroscopy time was obtained.

Results

Operator Air Kerma was widely variable across procedures, with median value of 6.4 μGy per procedure. Median fluoroscopy time and median KAP per procedure were 2.6 min and 4.7 Gy cm2, respectively. There was correlation between operator Air Kerma and KAP (r 2 = 0.60), with a slope of 1.6 μGy Air Kerma per unit Gy cm2 KAP incident on the patient and between fluoroscopy time and KAP (r 2 = 0.63).

Conclusion

Operator Air Kerma during individual fluoroscopy-guided spine procedures can be approximated from the commonly and readily available information of the total amount of radiation incident on the patient, measured as KAP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroradiology, Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, Ospedale Regionale di Lugano, Via Tesserete, 46, 6900, Lugano, Switzerland

    Luca Roccatagliata, Emanuele Pravatà & Alessandro Cianfoni

  2. Unità di Fisica Medica, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), Bellinzona, Switzerland

    Stefano Presilla

Authors
  1. Luca Roccatagliata
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  2. Stefano Presilla
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  3. Emanuele Pravatà
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  4. Alessandro Cianfoni
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alessandro Cianfoni.

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Funding

No funding was received for this study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

We declare that all procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

For this type of retrospective study formal consent is not required.

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Roccatagliata, L., Presilla, S., Pravatà, E. et al. Radiation dose to the operator during fluoroscopically guided spine procedures. Neuroradiology 59, 885–892 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-017-1868-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-017-1868-1

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