Use of Real-time Dosimetry is Associated with Lower Physician Radiation Doses in the Catheterization Laboratory

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

10-2025

Publication Title

Journal of the American College of Cardiology

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Physicians face substantial occupational risks from chronic radiation exposure in catheterization laboratories. We investigated if use of real-time dosimetry, which allows physicians to see their radiation doses in real-time, is associated with reduced physician radiation doses.

METHODS: Real-time radiation doses were prospectively collected among physicians performing cases in the catheterization laboratory. For the first 1,104 cases, physicians were blinded to real-time dosimetry data. For the following 86 cases, physicians were unblinded to real-time dosimetry data during procedures. Radiation doses were compared with and without use of real-time dosimetry data. To account for differences in the amount of radiation used per case, radiation doses were compared between groups after normalizing the radiation doses to the dose-area product (DAP).

RESULTS: Without use of real-time dosimetry, median physician radiation dose per case was 0.6 [0.1, 5.1] μSv. With use of real-time dosimetry, median physician radiation dose per case fell to 0.2 [0.0, 1.6] μSv, representing a 67% reduction in radiation dose with realtime dosimetry (p = 0.003). A significant reduction in radiation dose was also observed after normalizing physician radiation doses to DAP (0.9 [0.2, 7.7] μSv/[mGy x cm2 ] vs 0.3 [0.0, 9.0] μSv/[mGy x cm2 ], p = 0.02). The association of real-time dosimetry with lower radiation doses appeared limited to cases performed with PCI (Table).

CONCLUSION Use of real-time dosimetry was associated with a significant reduction in physician radiation doses in the catheterization laboratory.

Volume

86

Issue

17 Suppl

First Page

B455

Comments

American College of Cardiology Thirty-Seventh Annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Symposium, October 25-28, 2025, San Francisco, CA

Frederik Meijer Heart & Vascular Institute

Last Page

B456

DOI

10.1016/j.jacc.2025.09.1267

ISSN

1558-3597

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