Influence of Various Setup Parameters on Scattered Fraction in Interventional Cardiology

It is important to examine the positions of the medical staff involved in interventional cardiology in order to minimize their accumulated scattered radiation doses. This study used the design of experiment (DOE) method with three parameters (C-arm gantry tilt, position and height), each at three levels (low, medium and high), on both the left and right sides of the patient, to analyse the interactions between the parameters that influence the scattered fraction in interventional cardiology. In this experiment, a RANDO phantom and an Unfors Xi survey detector were used to measure the rate of the scattered dose exposed to staff without protective shielding in a Cath lab. The parameters that significantly influenced the scattered fraction at a confidence level of 95% (P< 0.05) to the right of the patient were the gantry tilt and the height. To the left of the patient, all parameters significantly influenced the scattered fraction.