Reducing radiation exposure for patient and staff during interventional radiology demonstrated for coil embolisation

Purpose: Coil embolization of intracranial aneurysms is a radiographic interventional procedure associated with relatively high radiation exposure for the patient and staff. Modern angiographic fluoroscopy systems have a high potential for reducing radiation exposure of a wide bandwidth (e. g. automatic beam filtering, pulsed fluoroscopy, characteristic curve selection). The purpose of this study was to determine how those features could be implemented in the daily routine. Material and Methods: The radiation exposure for the patient and staff was measured during 60 coiling procedures and compared to the mean values before changing the parameters. Results: Implementation of those dose-reducing features during complex radiographic procedures is limited for various reasons. A 35% dose reduction during coil embolization was able to be achieved in our trial. Conclusions: From an economic point of view, some resources implemented by the manufacturer and included in the prime cost of the system are not being fully utilized. With some effort, instruction and further education of the staff could lead to a further reduction in radiation exposure without losing too much image quality. (orig.)