Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access originally published online on June 20, 2007
Radiation Protection Dosimetry 2008 128(2):217-226; doi:10.1093/rpd/ncm324
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Radiation dose optimisation and risk estimation to patients and staff during hysterosalpingography
1 Medical Physics Department, Medical School, University of Thessaly, 22 Papakyriazi Street, 41222 Larissa, Hellas, Greece
2 Radiology Department, Medical School, University of Thessaly, 22 Papakyriazi Street, 41222 Larissa, Hellas, Greece
* Corresponding author: ktheodor{at}med.uth.gr
Received September 8, 2006, amended May 12, 2007, accepted May 17, 2007
Hysterosalpingography (HSG) is an efficient radiological examination for the evaluation of the female reproductive tract. However, it involves unavoidable irradiation to the ovaries of women in childbearing age. Therefore, radiation dose optimisation is required in order to reduce the probability of the associated risks. This study attempts to: measure patient and staff doses, estimate the effective dose and radiation risk for HSG using digital fluoroscopic images. Thirty-seven patients with infertility were examined using two digital X-ray machines. Thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLD) were used to measure entrance surface dose (ESD) for patients and staff during the procedure. The mean ESD and thyroid surface dose of the patient were 3.60 and 0.17 mGy, respectively, while the mean ESD for the staff was 0.18 mGy per procedure. The patient overall risk for cancer and hereditary effects is 24 x 10–6, while the risk for the staff is negligible. HSG with fluoroscopic technique demonstrate improved dose characteristics, compared to the conventional radiographic-based technique, reducing the surface dose by a factor of 3, without compromising the diagnostic findings.