Radiation Safety for the Pain Physician and the use of a Laser Guided C-Arm to Facilitate Pain Block Placements

Abstract

Thirty-five years ago this author was sitting in a military classroom and receiving basic indoctrination in the fine art of self protection against the effects of gamma radiation and nuclear fallout. I learned that I could be exposed to 100 rads of gamma radiation with little or no effect. If how ever I were to receive 300 rads, I might develop bleeding gums and transiently slough the lining of my small and large bowel one or two weeks after the exposure, but I would recover. If I were unfortunate enough to be exposed to 600 or more rads of total body irradiation, I would not survive the insult. This was fine with me. The Cuban missile crises had come and gone, and the cold war had become very cold. Moreover, I was young, invincible and had no idea what one rad was other than a unit of measure for gamma rays or other forms of ionizing radiation.