Exposure Rates Associated with High Level Fluoroscopic Equipment and Data Recording Modes

The 1993 Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) and Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, Inc. (CRCPD) study focused on exposure rates from high level fluoroscopic equipment. As a part of the Pennsylvania study, only eight facilities within our region were surveyed, with exposure rates varying from 6 to 398 roentgens per minute. With so great a range, a more detailed survey on all facilities possessing equipment capable of high level fluoroscopy and its associated data recording modes was undertaken. This study encompassed 108 units from 42 facilities within the 22 counties of the Western Pennsylvania region. It is possible that typical fluoroscopy may not be responsible for the highest patient exposures, but that the recording of the images, primarily in the cineradiographic mode, produces the highest patient exposure rates.