Program Information
Estimating the Occupational Eye Lens Dose in Interventional Radiology Using Active Personal Dosimeters Worn On the Chest
A Omar*, M Marteinsdottir , N Kadesjo , A Fransson , Dept. of Medical Physics , Karolinska University Hospital , Stockholm, Sweden
Presentations
SU-E-I-57 (Sunday, July 12, 2015) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall
Purpose: To provide a general formalism for determination of occupational eye lens dose based on the response of an active personal dosimeter (APD) worn at chest level above the radiation protection apron.
Methods: The formalism consists of three factors: (1) APD conversion factor converting the reading at chest level (APDchest) to the corresponding personal dose equivalent at eye level, (2) Dose conversion factor transferring the measured dose quantity, Hp(10), into a dose quantity relevant for the eye lens dose, (3) Correction factor accounting for differences in exposure of the eye(s) compared to the exposure at chest level (e.g., due to protective lead glasses).
The different factors were investigated and evaluated based on phantom and clinical measurements performed in an x-ray angiography suite for interventional cardiology.
Results: The eye lens dose can be conservatively estimated by assigning an appropriate numerical value to each factor entering the formalism that in most circumstances overestimates the dose. Doing so, the eye lens dose to the primary operator and assisting staff was estimated in this work as D_eye,primary = 2.0 APDchest and D_eye,assisting = 1.0 APDchest, respectively.
The annual eye lens dose to three nurses and one cardiologist was estimated to be 2, 2, 2, and 13 mSv (Hp(0.07)), respectively, using a TLD dosimeter worn at eye level. In comparison, using the formalism and APDchest measurements, the respective doses were 2, 2, 2, and 16 mSv (Hp(3)).
Conclusion: The formalism outlined in this work can be used to estimate the occupational eye lens dose from the response of an APD worn on the chest. The formalism is general and could be applied also to other types of dosimeters. However, the numerical value of the different factors may differ from those obtained with the APD's used in this work due to differences in dosimeter properties.
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