Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access originally published online on September 2, 2008
Radiation Protection Dosimetry 2008 132(1):98-101; doi:10.1093/rpd/ncn227
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A study on the radiation dose of the orthopaedic surgeon and staff from a mini c-arm fluoroscopy unit
1 Medical Physics Department, Medical School, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
2 Orthopedics Department, Medical School, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
* Corresponding author: asgharmesbahi{at}yahoo.com
Received May 19, 2008, amended July 8, 2008, accepted July 31, 2008
In this study, radiation exposure to the surgeon and supporting staff from a mini C-arm unit during fluoroscopically guided orthopaedic surgeries was studied. A Diadose dosemeter and Gamma-Scout meter were used for air-kerma measurements for primary and scattered radiations. The entrance dose of hands, eyes and thyroid of the surgeon was measured during direct observation. Scattered air-kerma rate was measured to quantify the received entrance dose of the supporting staff. During direct observation, the skin-entrance exposure rates of the surgeon's hand, eye and thyroid gland were 8036, 0.85 and 0.9 µGy min–1, respectively. The scattered exposure rate was precipitously dropped beyond the path of the primary radiation beam, and reached 0.51 µGy min–1 at a distance of 40 cm from the beam's central axis. This study showed that the surgeon's hand was the most dose-limiting organ for fluoroscopically guided orthopaedic surgery procedures when it was exposed to primary radiation. The exposure of supporting staff at a working distance of >20 cm from the beam was minimal during fluoroscopy by mini C-arm unit.