Introduction: Coronary angiography and angioplasty procedures lead to significant radiation exposure of patients. In the current study, the average radiation dose to patients during angiography in the Angiography Department of Shahid-Madani Hospital was determined.
Materials and Methods: An image intensifier based angiography unit (Philips BH 3000) was used for angiography procedures. The accuracy of the internal dosimeter was verified. Dose-area products (DAP) of patients (236 cases) during fluoroscopy and cine acquisition were recorded. Analyzing the data, the average radiation doses to patients for angiography and angioplasty and also for fluoroscopy and cine acquisition were determined. Additionally, the average fluoroscopy time for all patients was estimated.
Results: The average DAPs of 23.7 and 91.5 Gycm² were estimated for angiography and angioplasty respectively. Patient doses including fluoroscopy, cine acquisition and the total dose for angiography were 2, 7.7 and 3.8 times lower than angioplasty procedures respectively. Average fluoroscopy time was 1.9 times lower for angiography compared to angioplasty.
Discussion and Conclusion: Fluoroscopy time and patient dose during fluoroscopy were in good agreement with other studies. However, the dose to patients during angioplasty was higher compared to other reports. To reduce patient dose in angioplasty procedures, the use of the lowest available frame rate, smallest field size and retraining of operators and technologists are recommended.