Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access published online on September 17, 2008
Radiation Protection Dosimetry, doi:10.1093/rpd/ncn244
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USEFULNESS OF NON-LEAD APRONS IN RADIATION PROTECTION FOR PHYSICIANS PERFORMING INTERVENTIONAL PROCEDURES
1 Course of Radiological Technology, Health Sciences, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo, Aoba, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
2 Department of Radiological Technology, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Tohoku University, 2-1 Seiryo, Aoba, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
3 Department of Radiology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo, Aoba, Sendai 980-8574, Japan
* Corresponding author: zuguchi{at}wm.pdx.ne.jp
Received April 24, 2008, amended August 21, 2008, accepted August 23, 2008
At present, interventional radiology (IVR) tends to involve long procedures (long radiation duration), and physicians are near to the source of scattered radiation. Hence, shielding is critical in protecting physicians from radiation. Protective aprons and additional lead-shielding devices, such as tableside lead drapes, are important means of protecting the physician from scattered radiation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether non-lead aprons are effective in protecting physicians from radiation during IVR procedures. In this study, the radiation protection effects of commercially available protective lead and non-lead aprons, when exposed to diagnostic X rays, are compared. The performance of these non-lead and lead aprons was similar for scattered X rays at tube voltages of 60–120 kV. Properly designed non-lead aprons are thus more suitable for physicians because they weigh
20% less than the lead aprons, and are non-toxic.