The optimization of radiation protection to interventional cardiologists

Scattered dose radiation to occupational in interventional cardiology cannot be neglected due to the long time for each procedure. The limit dose for occupational is 20 mSv per year or 0.01 mSv/h. The aim of this study is to calculate the effective dose of occupational and to analyse the optimization of radiation protection in the Cath lab. The simulation has been done using Rando phantom as a patient and Unfors Xi as scattered dose measuring instrument (in mGy/h). The data is collected in 6 different positions from altitudes 25 cm to 75 cm with a range of 15 cm without protective shielding. Field size of primary beam is varied to 20×20 cm and 25×25 cm, while gantry tilt is varied to caudal, cranial, and Left Anterior Oblique (LAO). The obtained data is multiplied by weighting factor base on its height. The result shows that the effective dose of occupational is in the range of 0.18-0.94 mSv/h, which is exceed the limit dose. To accommodate the limit dose for occupational, we propose the limitation of procedure time to 21-110 hours a year or the use of protective shielding as thick as 1-1.6 mm lead.