Abstract
Purpose: To determine if C-arm rotation is beneficial for reducing peak skin dose (PSD) in interventional radiology (IR) and, if so, under what circumstances. Materials and Methods: The Monte Carlo method was used to perform ray tracing for detailed analyses of the effect of C-arm rotation on PSD across a range of patient sizes, C-arm configurations, and procedure types. Automatic dose-rate control curves on modern fluoroscopic systems were measured for input into the simulations. Results: Rotating the C-arm to reduce the PSD is in most cases contraindicated and results in increased PSD when the C-arm is rotated from an original posteroanterior projection, in some cases resulting in a PSD increase by a factor of 5 or more. When prophylactic rotation was performed before a procedure, however, and the C-arm was rotated between opposed, distinct oblique angles, substantial reduction in PSD was achieved for patients of any size. Conclusions: Rotating the C-arm during a procedure with the aim of "spreading" dose on the skin of the patient may not result in a reduction in PSD and may increase PSD. However, when used as a prophylactic measure combined with tight x-ray beam collimation, C-arm rotation can be used as a tool to reduce PSD. Tight collimation greatly increases the benefit of C-arm rotation.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 443-452 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology |
Volume | 22 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2011 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine