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Radiation Safety in Videofluoroscopic Swallowing Study: Systematic Review

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Abstract

Videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) is generally used to diagnose dysphagia and oropharyngeal aspiration during swallowing movement. Patients and bolus-feeding operators (such as occupational therapist and speech language pathologist) may undergo multiple VFSS procedure, placing them at risk for more radiation exposure due to increased scan time. The present study investigated the dose–area product, effective dose of various protocols, and summarized dose reports from various studies of VFSS. The PubMed database searched for relevant publications reporting radiation dose in the VFSS procedure. 13 articles were selected to be reviewed. This systematic review involved 13 peer-reviewed articles that reported the specific dose of the VFSS procedure. The articles were categorized into three types: operator radiation dose, adult patient radiation dose, and pediatric radiation dose. The operator dose reports showed that the operators’ scattering exposure, equivalent dose (across the whole body, eyes, and hands), and annual effective dose were significantly lower than the annual dose limit of 20 mSv. Both adult and pediatric patient dose reports showed that the effective dose, which was estimated from recorded dose–area product, was significantly lower than the annual background exposure of 2.4 mSv in various protocols. The present literature review suggested that the radiation dose of VFSS by modified barium swallowing is acceptable in both operators and patients. However, various radiation protection strategies should be conducted during the procedure to reduce the risk of stochastic effect.

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  • 05 November 2020

    The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The presentation of Fig. 1 was incorrect. The correct version of Fig. 1 is given below.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Dongseo University, “Dongseo Cluster Project” Research Fund of 2020.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Multidisplinary Radiological Science, Graduate School, DongSeo University, 47 Jurye-ro, Sasang-gu, Busan, 47011, Republic of Korea

    Jun-Yong Hong & Young-Jin Jung

  2. Department of Occupational Therapy, Seoul North Municipal Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Na-Kyoung Hwang

  3. Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Center for Prevention and Rehabilitation, Heart Vascular Stroke Institute, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 81 Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 06351, Republic of Korea

    Gihyoun Lee

  4. Advanced Human Resource Development Project Group for Health Care in Aging Friendly Industry, Dongseo University, 47 Jurye-ro, Sasang-gu, Busan, 47011, Republic of Korea

    Ji-Su Park & Young-Jin Jung

  5. Department of Radiological Science at Health Sciences Division in DongSeo University, 47 Jurye-ro, Sasang-gu, Busan, 47011, Republic of Korea

    Young-Jin Jung

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  1. Jun-Yong Hong
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Hong, JY., Hwang, NK., Lee, G. et al. Radiation Safety in Videofluoroscopic Swallowing Study: Systematic Review. Dysphagia 36, 73–82 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-020-10112-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-020-10112-3

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