Patient Radiation Doses in IR Procedures: The American College of Radiology Dose Index Registry-Fluoroscopy Pilot.

Purpose: To update normative data on fluoroscopy dose indices in the United States for the first time since the Radiation Doses in Interventional Radiology study in the late 1990s.

Materials And Methods: The Dose Index Registry-Fluoroscopy pilot study collected data from March 2018 through December 2019, with 50 fluoroscopes from 10 sites submitting data. Primary radiation dose indices including fluoroscopy time (FT), cumulative air kerma (K), and kerma area product (P) were collected for interventional radiology fluoroscopically guided interventional (FGI) procedures.

Patient Radiation Doses in Interventional Radiology Procedures: Comparison of Fluoroscopy Dose Indices between the American College of Radiology Dose Index Registry-Fluoroscopy Pilot and the Radiation Doses in Interventional Radiology Study.

Purpose: To compare radiation dose index distributions for fluoroscopically guided interventions in interventional radiology from the American College of Radiology (ACR) Fluoroscopy Dose Index Registry (DIR-Fluoro) pilot to those from the Radiation Doses in Interventional Radiology (RAD-IR) study.

Materials And Methods: Individual and grouped ACR Common identification numbers (procedure types) from the DIR-Fluoro pilot were matched to procedure types in the RAD-IR study. Fifteen comparisons were made.

CT, US and MRI of xanthine urinary stones: in-vitro and in-vivo analyses.

Background: Xanthine urinary stones are a rare entity that may occur in patients with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome receiving allopurinol. There is little literature describing imaging characteristics of these stones, and the most appropriate approach to imaging these stones is therefore unclear. We performed in-vitro and in-vivo analyses of xanthine stones using computed tomography (CT) at different energy levels, ultrasound (US), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The American College of Radiology Fluoroscopy Dose Index Registry Pilot: Technical Considerations and Dosimetric Performance of the Interventional Fluoroscopes.

Purpose: To characterize the accuracy and consistency of fluoroscope dose index reporting and report rates of occupational radiation safety hardware availability and use, trainee participation in procedures, and optional hardware availability at pilot sites for the American College of Radiology (ACR) Fluoroscopy Dose Index Registry (DIR).

Materials And Methods: Nine institutions participated in the registry pilot, providing fluoroscopic technical and clinical practice data from 38 angiographic C-arm-type fluoroscopes. These data included measurements of the procedure table and mattress transmission factors and accuracy measurements of the reference-point air kerma (K) and air kerma-area product (P).

Computational Thinking Is More about Thinking than Computing.

Computational thinking is widely recognized as important, not only to those interested in computer science and mathematics but also to every student in the twenty-first century. However, the concept of computational thinking is arguably complex; the term itself can easily lead to direct connection with "computing" or "computer" in a restricted sense. In this editorial, we build on existing research about computational thinking to discuss it as a multi-faceted theoretical nature.

Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Pregnancy: Modeling of the Fetal Absorbed Dose.

There is a gap in the literature regarding fetal radiation exposure from interventional cardiac procedures. With an increasingly large and complex cohort of pregnant cardiac patients, it is necessary to evaluate the safety of invasive cardiac procedures and interventions in this population. Here we present a case of a patient with multiple medical comorbidities and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) at 15 weeks' gestation, managed with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Radiation dose monitoring in pediatric fluoroscopy: comparison of fluoroscopy time and dose-area product thresholds for identifying high-exposure cases.

Background: Fluoroscopy time has been used as a surrogate for radiation dose monitoring in pediatric fluoroscopy; however it does not account for factors such as magnification or collimation. Dose-area product (DAP) is a more accurate measure of radiation exposure but its dependence on patient weight and body-part thickness is a challenge in children of varying ages.

Objective: To determine whether fluoroscopy time and DAP produce concurrent results when they are used to identify high-exposure cases, and to establish radiation dose thresholds for our institution.

Evaluating an Image Gently and Image Wisely Campaign in a Multihospital Health Care System.

Purpose: The efficacy of an Image Gently(®)/Image Wisely(®) radiology departmental campaign consisting of the optimization of CT protocols to reduce dose while maintaining quality, and an educational effort to alter the ordering patterns of referring physicians at a multihospital academic center, was evaluated.

Methods: The numbers of CT, MR, and ultrasound studies performed at inpatient, outpatient, and emergency facilities in the hospital system before and after the initiation of the departmental campaign (2010) were obtained for a 10-year period (2004-2014) using a radiology information system. For the same time period, dose per scan (volumetric CT dose index) was obtained through the Dose Index Registry(®)/National Radiology Data Registry for frequently performed studies.

Feasibility of using single-slice MDCT to evaluate visceral abdominal fat in an urban pediatric population.

Objective: Obesity is a growing clinical problem, especially among children of low socioeconomic status. Increased visceral abdominal fat is implicated in the metabolic syndrome and its health consequences. The purpose of this study is to validate measurement of a single MDCT slice as a predictor of total visceral abdominal fat and to correlate over a wide range of body mass indexes (BMIs).

Scatter radiation from chest radiographs: is there a risk to infants in a typical NICU?

Objective: To evaluate the dose of scatter radiation to infants in a NICU in order to determine the minimal safe distance between isolettes.

Materials And Methods: Dose secondary to scattered radiation from an acrylic phantom exposed to vertical and horizontal beam exposures at 56 kVp was measured at 93 cm and 125 cm from the center of the phantom. This corresponds to 2 and 3 ft between standard isolettes, respectively.