Skip Navigation



Europace Advance Access published online on October 20, 2009
Europace, doi:10.1093/europace/eup302
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Suzuki, S.
Right arrow Articles by Nakano, Y.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Suzuki, S.
Right arrow Articles by Nakano, Y.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2009. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

CLINICAL RESEARCH

Radiation exposure to patients' skin during cardiac resynchronization therapy

Shigeru Suzuki1,*, Shigeru Furui1, Takeshi Yamakawa2, Takaaki Isshiki2, Akiko Watanabe1, Ryu Iino2, Takashi Kidouchi1 and Yoshiyasu Nakano1

1 Department of Radiology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Teikyo University Hospital, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan; 2 Department of Medicine, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Teikyo University Hospital, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan

Aims: The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the patients’ entrance skin dose (ESD) during cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).

Methods and results: Entrance skin doses were assessed during 16 CRT procedures. Seven of the 16 patients were upgrade of conventional pacemaker to CRT. The patients wore jackets which had 100 radiosensitive indicators placed on the back during the procedures. After the procedure, the patients’ ESDs were calculated from the colour difference of the indicators. Eleven of the 16 patients were implanted devices with a defibrillator, and three patients those without a defibrillator. In the other two, the procedures failed. The average total fluoroscopic time (TFT), total numbers of cine frames, and the maximum ESDs were 56.7 ± 28.0 min, 674 ± 342 frames, and 1.0 ± 0.6 Gy, respectively. Of the 16 patients, six received ESDs exceeding 1 Gy, TFT, total number of cine frames, and the maximum ESD tended to decrease as the operator experience increased.

Conclusion: The patients’ ESDs during CRT procedures can exceed the thresholds for radiation skin injuries due to prolonged fluoroscopic times. Therefore, interventionalists should estimate the doses.

Key Words: Cardiac resynchronization therapy, Dosimetry, Radiation safety

* Corresponding author. Tel: +81 3 3964 1211, Fax: +81 3 5375 5318, Email: s-suzuki{at}med.teikyo-u.ac.jp

Manuscript submitted 6 May 2009. Accepted after revision 10 September 2009.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.