Radiation exposure to patients during pediatric cardiac catheterization

Radiation doses to patients during pediatric cardiac catheterization were measured using thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) and slab phantom in 18 procedures. The average doses to the left and right thyroids were 8.74 and 13.76 mGy respectively. The average entrance skin dose and effective dose approached 84.7 cGy and 69.9 mSv respectively. The average integrated currents used for fluoroscopy and cine-angiography procedures were 22.9 and 616.1 mA·min respectively. It is believed that the majority of the doses to the patients normally came from the cine-angiography procedure