Pilot program on patient dosimetry in pediatric interventional cardiology in Chile

Purpose: The aim of this study was to present the results of a pilot program on patient dosimetry carried out in Chile during the last 5 yr, using a biplane x-ray angiography system settled for pediatrics. This research was conducted in Latin America under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supporting programs on radiological protection (RP) of patients. Methods: Patient age, gender, weight, height, number of cine series, total number of cine frames, fluoroscopy time, and two dosimetric quantities air kerma-area product (P_ka) and cumulative dose (CD) at the patient entrance reference point were recorded for each procedure. Results: The study includes 544 patients grouped into four age groups. The distributions by age group were 150 for 1 yr; 203 for 1 to 5 yr; 97 for 5 to 10 yr; and 94 for 10 to 16 yr. Median values of P_ka and CD for the four age groups were 0.94, 1.46, 2.13, and 5.03 Gy cm² and 23.9, 26.8, 33.5, and 51.6 mGy, respectively. No significant statistical differences were found between diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. A moderate correlation (r = 0.64) was seen between P_ka and patient weight. Conclusions: The dose values reported in this paper were lower than those published in the previous work for the same age groups as a result of the optimization actions carried out by cardiologists and medical physicists with the support of the IAEA. Methodology and results will be used as a starting point for a wider survey in Chile and Latin America with the goal to obtain regional diagnostic reference levels as recently recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection for interventional procedures.