Measurement of patient skin dose in interventional radiology using passive integrating dosimeter

To avoid radiation injury from interventional radiology (IVR), quality assurance (QA) of IVR equipment based on dosimetry is important. In this study, we investigated the usefulness of measuring patient skin dose with a passive integrating dosimeter and water phantom. The optically stimulated luminescence dosimeter (OSLD) was chosen from among various passive integrating dosimeters. The characteristics of the OSLD were compared with a reference ionization dosimeter. The effective energy obtained from the OSLD was compared with that found by the aluminum attenuation method for using the reference ionization dosimeter. Doses and effective energies measured by OSLD correlated well with those of the reference ionization dosimeter. (dose: y=0.971x, r=0.999, effective energy: y=0.990x, r=0.994). It was suggested that OSLD could simultaneously and correctly measure both patient skin dose and effective energy. Patient skin dose rate and effective energy for 15 IVR units of 10 hospitals were investigated using OSLD and a water phantom for automatic brightness control fluoroscopy. The measurement was performed at the surface of a water phantom that was located on the interventional reference point, and source image intensifier distance was fixed to 100 cm. When the 9-inch field size was selected, the average patient skin dose rate was 16.3+/-8.1 mGy/min (3.6-32.0 mGy/min), the average effective energy was 34.6+/-4.1 keV (30.5-42.5 keV). As a result, it was suggested that QA should be performed not only for patient dose but also for effective energy. QA of equipment is integral to maintaining consistently appropriate doses. Consequently, the dosimetry of each IVR unit should be regularly executed to estimate the outline of patient skin dose. It was useful to investigate patient skin dose/effective energy with the passive integrating dosimeter for IVR equipment.