Establishing diagnostic reference levels for interventional procedures in Kenya

PurposeTo quantify ionizing radiation exposure to patients during interventional procedures and establish national diagnostic reference levels (NDRLs) for clinical radiation exposure management.MethodsThe cumulative reference point air kerma, kerma area product, fluoroscopy time and other operational parameters were monitored for 50 children and 261 adult patient procedures in five catheterization medical laboratories in Kenya. To estimate the risk associated with the exposure, effective doses were derived from the kerma area product using conversion factors from Monte Carlo models.ResultsAbout 3% of the measured cumulative reference point air kerma for the interventional procedures approached the threshold dose limit with the potential to cause deterministic effects such as skin injuries. In interventional cardiology, the results obtained for both children and adults indicated 33% were below the diagnostic reference levels (DRLs). In adult interventional radiology, 29% for cumulative reference point air kerma, and 43% for kerma area product and fluoroscopy time respectively were below the diagnostic reference levels. NDRLs were proposed for routine use in the procedures considered and for the non-existent DRLs situations in paediatric interventional cardiology.ConclusionThe measured patient doses were above the DRLs available in the literature indicating a need for radiation optimization through, continuous monitoring and recording of patient dose. To promote radiation safety, facilities performing interventional procedures need to establish a radiation monitoring notification threshold for possible deterministic effects, in addition to the use of the newly established national diagnostic reference levels, as a quality assurance measure.