RADIATION DOSE FOLLOW-UP FOR COMMON INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGY AND RADIOLOGY PROCEDURES.

Radiation dose delivered to patients undergoing invasive angiography and interventional radiography procedures remains relatively high. International guidelines suggest that local benchmarks should be established for these procedures. The purpose of this study was to establish local diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for common interventional radiology and cardiology procedures and to compare them with local DRLs set in 2015 and National DRLs. The six-month investigation covered six fluoroscopy units and focused on seven interventional radiology examination types. DRLs were set as the 3rd quartile of the dose area product (DAP), surface entrance dose (ESD) and fluoroscopy time (FT) values. This work indicated that preliminary local DRLs can provide an adequate reference tool for patient dose optimization and a reflection on clinical practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]