ASSESSMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE IN THE MAIN PAEDIATRIC INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY PROCEDURES.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the personal dose equivalent Hp(10) in the most frequent (non-cardiac) paediatric interventional radiology (PIR) procedures: central venous catheters (CVC), hepatic/biliary and sclerotherapy interventions. i2 active solid-state dosemeters placed over the lead apron were used to monitor the exposure of three interventional radiologists over 18 months. A database was created to register all procedures performed by each radiologist (including the type of procedure and the kerma-area product, PKA).

Dose accuracy improvement on head and neck VMAT treatments by using the Acuros algorithm and accurate FFF beam calibration.

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess dose accuracy improvement and dosimetric impact of switching from the anisotropic analytical algorithm (AA) to the Acuros XB algorithm (AXB) when performing an accurate beam calibration in head and neck (H&N) FFF-VMAT treatments.

Materials And Methods: Twenty H&N cancer patients treated with FFF-VMAT techniques were included. Calculations were performed with the AA and AXB algorithm (dose-to-water - AXB- and dose-to-medium - AXB-).

Occupational doses to the eye lens in pediatric and adult noncardiac interventional radiology procedures.

Purpose: To assess occupational lens exposure in a mixed interventional radiology department, comparing pediatric and adult procedures. To analyze the correlation between the lens dose and the doses measured at the chest and collar level and the kerma-area product (P ).

Methods: For 17 months, three radiologists performing both pediatric and adult interventions were monitored by means of 14 dosimeters per worker: 12 single-point optically stimulated luminescent (OSL) dosimeters calibrated in terms of H (0.

Dosimetric impact of failing to apply correction factors to ion recombination in percentage depth dose measurements and the volume-averaging effect in flattening filter-free beams.

Purpose: To examine whether it is essential to apply correction factors for ion recombination (k) to percentage depth dose (PDD) measurements and to the volume-averaging effect (k) to ensure accurate absolute dose calibration for flattening filter-free (FFF) beams for the most commonly used ionization chambers.

Methods: We surveyed medical physicists worldwide (n = 159) to identify the five most common ionization chamber combinations used for absolute and relative reference dosimetry of FFF beams. We then assessed the overall absolute dose calibration error for FFF beams of the Artiste Siemens and TrueBeam Varian linear accelerators resulting from failing to apply correction factors k in the PDD(10) and the volume-averaging effect (k) to such chamber combinations.

Local diagnostic reference levels for paediatric non-cardiac interventional radiology procedures.

Purpose: To establish local diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for non-cardiac interventional procedures in paediatrics.

Methods: The type of procedure, the patient's weight and age and dose-related data from 279 interventions was recorded in a database completed by interventional radiologists, radiographers and technicians of the Medical Physics department. These procedures were classified into 14 categories and 6 weight ranges.