Influence of exposure and geometric parameters on absorbed doses associated with common neuro-interventional procedures

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of routine exposure parameters on patient\u27s dose during neuro-interventional radiology procedures. Methods: We scrutinized the routine radiological exposure parameters during 58 clinical neuro-interventional procedures such as, exposure direction, magnification, frame rate, and distance between image receptor to patient\u27s body and evaluate their effects on patient\u27s dose using an anthropomorphic phantom. Radiation dose received by the occipital region, ears and eyes of the phantom were measured using MO. Skin detectors. Results: DSA imaging technique is a major contributor to patient\u27s dose (80.9%) even though they are used sparingly (5.3% of total frame number). The occipital region of the brain received high dose largely from the frontal tube constantly placed under couch (73.7% of the total KAP). When rotating the frontal tube away from under the couch, the radiation dose to the occipital reduced by 40%. The use of magnification modes could increase radiation dose by 94%. Changing the image receptor to the phantom surface distance from 10 to 40. cm doubled the radiation dose received by the patient\u27s skin at the occipital region. Conclusion: Our findings provided important insights into the contribution of selected fluoroscopic exposure parameters and their impact on patient\u27s dose during neuro-interventional radiology procedures. This study showed that the DSA imaging technique contributed to the highest patient\u27s dose and judicial use of exposure parameters might assist interventional radiologists in effective skin and eye lens dose reduction for patients undergoing neuro-interventional procedures