Patient skin dose determined by radiochromic film and dap meter method in cardiac catheterization and interventional radiology

Abstract

The patient dosimetry in this study was determined by radiochromic film and Dose Area Product (DAP) methods. The dose measurement was carried out from 64 adult patients who underwent the interventional radiology examinations such as transarterial oily chemo embolization (TOCE), percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD), neurovascular intervention/angiography and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty/stent (PTCA) at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. The maximum skin dose assessment from radiochromic film was compared with DAP calculation and showed the agreement, but radiochromic film showed higher radiation dose, because the calculated dose from DAP was the accumulated skin dose at different area and it was not the point entrance area of the patient. The maximum entrance skin dose from each case was determined by scanning radiochromic film to get the maximum density area on the film; this area represented the maximum entrance dose. However, the comparison of the radiochromic film and DAP were made to assess the patient skin dose and the maximum radiation dose from each procedure. The result shows the maximum skin dose from transarterial oily chemo embolization (TOCE) was 365 cGy, percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) was 183 cGy, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty/stent (PTCA) was 294 cGy, neurovascular intervention was 180 cGy and neurovascular angiography was 110 cGy The patient skin dose in this study depends on the length of fluoroscopy time and only one patient who reached the threshold dose of skin injury of 300 cGy