Publications by authors named "Heli R S Larjava"
Article Synopsis
- Voiding cystourethrography (VCUG) is widely used to diagnose vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) but has high radiation exposure; direct radionuclide cystography (DRC) was created to address this issue.
- A study involving 156 children assessed the effectiveness of DRC compared to VCUG and found that DRC identified VUR in 35.3% of patients, while VCUG found it in 61.5%.
- Despite DRC being intended as a lower-radiation option, it actually resulted in higher radiation exposure and additional costs, raising questions about its use in screening for VUR.
The out-of-plane contact shield and mA-modulation - the effect on fetal absorbed dose.
Radiat Prot Dosimetry
November 2024
Article Synopsis
- The study assesses how effective patient shielding is at reducing fetal radiation exposure during computed tomography pulmonary angiography, using a phantom model with a prosthetic pregnancy belly.
- Different CT scanners were tested, and results showed that shielding can significantly reduce fetal absorbed radiation dose with some scanners, decreasing exposure by 3.9% to 39.4%.
- However, in some cases, like with the GE Optima scanner, the shielding actually increased fetal dose by 100%, highlighting that the impact varies based on the specific scanner used.
Objectives: The aim of the patient out-of-plane shield is to reduce the patient radiation dose. Its effect on tube current modulation was evaluated with the out-of-plane shield visible in the localizer but absent in the scan range in chest CT with different CT scanners.
Methods: An anthropomorphic phantom was scanned with six different CT scanners from three different vendors.
In contemporary interventional cardiology, for typical elderly patients, the most severe radiation-related harm to patients can be considered to come from skin exposures. In this paper, maximum local skin doses in cardiological procedures are explored with Gafchromic film dosimetry. Film and reader calibrations and reading were performed at the Secondary Standards Dosimetry Laboratory of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), and data were gathered from seven hospitals in Finland.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe amount of interventional procedures such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), pacemaker implantation (PI) and ablations has increased within the previous decade. Simultaneously, novel fluoroscopy mainframes enable lower radiation doses for patients and operators. Therefore, there is a need to update the existing diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) and propose new ones for common or recently introduced procedures.
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