Doses to the vertebral marrow during common x-ray examinations in clinical situations

Increasing concern about somatic effects of low doses of x radiation to blood-forming organs led to direct measurements of the exposure of 60 adult patients during actual clinical procedures in a university teaching hospital. The peak skin exposure ranged from 1.99 R for an intravenous pyelogram to 263 R for abdominal angiography. From these measurements, the vertebral marrow doses were calculated and the peak values were found to range from 0.11 to 54 rad. The integral dose to the entire vertebral marrow ranged from 90 to 5400 g-rad in abdominal angiography and from 760 to 2900 g-rad in cardiac cineangiography. The magnitude of these doses points to the need for a conservative approach to multiple-injection angiography in view of indications of somatic damage from irradiation. The exposure given in these examinations should be consciously minimized. (U.S.)