Radiation Exposure and Protection for (Assumed) Pregnant Interventional Cardiologists and Electrophysiologists.

Background: Concern about fetus radiation dose and assumed health effects remains a barrier for women considering a career in invasive cardiology. However, there is a lack of real-world fetus exposure data that can be used to support career decisions. The purpose of this work was to measure radiation exposure to invasive cardiologists which would contribute to dose to the fetus during pregnancy.

Influence of anatomical structure on antiscatter grid performance in 2D: application to x-ray angiography and a prototype 29:1 ratio grid.

The use of uniform phantoms to assess the influence of x-ray scatter and antiscatter grids on x-ray angiography and fluoroscopy image quality disregards the influence of spatially variable x-ray attenuation of patients. The purpose of this work was to measure scatter to primary ratio (SPR) and antiscatter grid SNR improvement factor () using experimental conditions which better mimic patient imaging conditions.Three adult-sized anthropomorphic phantoms were used.

Radiation exposure in navigated techniques for AIS: is there a difference between pre-operative CT and intraoperative CT?

Purpose: Utilization of navigation improves pedicle screw accuracy in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Our center switched from intraoperative CT (ICT) to an optical navigation system that utilizes pre-operative CT (PCT). We aim to evaluate the radiation dose and operative time for low-dose ICT compared to standard and low-dose PCT used for optical navigation in AIS patients undergoing posterior spinal fusion.

Adaptation of a channelized Hotelling observer model to accommodate anthropomorphic backgrounds and moving test objects in X-ray angiography.

Background: Prior implementations of the channelized Hotelling observer (CHO) model have succeeded in assessing the performance of X-ray angiography systems under a variety of imaging conditions. However, often times these conditions do not resemble those present in routine clinical imaging scenarios, such as having complex anthropomorphic backgrounds in conjunction with moving test objects.

Purpose: This work builds up on prior established CHO methods and introduces a new approach to switch from the already established "multiple-sample" CHO implementation to a "single-sample" technique.