Eye lens monitoring for interventional radiology personnel: dosemeters, calibration and practical aspects ofH_p(3) monitoring. A 2015 review

Abstract

A thorough literature review about the current situation on the implementation of eye lens monitoring has been performed in order to provide recommendations regarding dosemeter types, calibration procedures and practical aspects of eye lens monitoring for interventional radiology personnel. Most relevant data and recommendations from about 100 papers have been analysed and classified in the following topics: challenges of today in eye lens monitoring; conversion coefficients, phantoms and calibration procedures for eye lens dose evaluation; correction factors and dosemeters for eye lens dose measurements; dosemeter position and influence of protective devices. The major findings of the review can be summarised as follows: the recommended operational quantity for the eye lens monitoring is H p (3). At present, several dosemeters are available for eye lens monitoring and calibration procedures are being developed. However, in practice, very often, alternative methods are used to assess the dose to the eye lens. A summary of correction factors found in the literature for the assessment of the eye lens dose is provided. These factors can give an estimation of the eye lens dose when alternative methods, such as the use of a whole body dosemeter, are used. A wide range of values is found, thus indicating the large uncertainty associated with these simplified methods. Reduction factors from most common protective devices obtained experimentally and using Monte Carlo calculations are presented. The paper concludes that the use of a dosemeter placed at collar level outside the lead apron can provide a useful first estimate of the eye lens exposure. However, for workplaces with estimated annual equivalent dose to the eye lens close to the dose limit, specific eye lens monitoring should be performed. Finally, training of the involved medical staff on the risks of ionising radiation for the eye lens and on the correct use of protective systems is strongly recommended.

Occupational Exposure of the Eye Lens in Interventional Procedures: How to Assess and Manage Radiation Dose

“…Contrary to the whole body dosimetry, eye lens dosimetry is not currently well established and numerous studies were carried out to investigate various aspects of eye dosimetry, such as the development of new dedicated eye dosemeters and calibration procedures [10,12,[26][27][28][29][30]. Furthermore, clinical studies have been conducted to discuss the methodology of the assessment of the eye lens dose levels, to investigate the monitoring arrangements using different types of dosemeters, to study correlations of eye lens dose with patient dose indices and to perform retrospective eye lens dose assessment [17,18,20,22,26].…”

InterCardioRisk: a novel online tool for estimating doses of ionising radiation to occupationally-exposed medical staff and their associated health risks

“…The different doses estimated by each methodology fall within the large ranges of dose reported in the literature. The variation in reported doses is associated with the high degree of uncertainty in measurements of lens dose, with different methodologies used, and the assumptions used to extrapolate eye doses from other dose measures [50]. However, we consider that estimates based on ORAMED measurement campaign are likely to provide more realistic outcomes because doses were measured under real conditions.…”

Preparation for Eye Lens Dose Assessment at CSTRM-NNEA

“…Research "Assessment of eye lens doses for workers during interventional radiology procedures" was done by Urboniene et al (2015) [5], and research "Risk of radiation exposure to medical staff involved in interventional endourology", reported by Hristova-Popova et al (2015) [6]. Research "Eye lens monitoring for interventional radiology personnel" was carried out by Carinou et al (2015) [7].…”