Doctors' knowledge of exposure to ionising radiation

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This has been going on for about 80 years now and all they can report on is

this. The damage wouldn't be limited to exterior, ie. skin, hair. etc, but

internally. F.

 

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7424/1167

 

BMJ 2003;327:1167 (15 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7424.1167

LetterDoctors' knowledge of exposure to ionising radiation Doctors need to be

aware of possible radiation injury from fluoroscopy

EDITOR—Shiralkar et al studied doctors' knowledge of radiation exposure.1

Doctors ordering diagnostic tests using ionising radiation should know roughly

how much radiation exposure these procedures will give to their patients. More

important, doctors performing fluoroscopically guided procedures must be aware

of the possibility of radiation injury if the radiation exposure from these

procedures is not known.

 

Serious, radiation induced skin injuries to patients resulting from

fluoroscopically guided procedures have been reported.2 3 Many of these

procedures require extended periods of fluoroscopic exposure compared with the

exposure times associated with diagnostic procedures. The onset of these

injuries is usually delayed.

The absorbed dose rate in the skin from the direct beam of a fluoroscopic x ray

unit is usually between 0.02 Gy/min and 0.05 Gy/min. Radiation doses of 3 Gy, 6

Gy, and 15 to 20 Gy can cause temporary epilation (loss of hair), erythema, and

more severe complications such as moist desquamation, dermal necrosis, and

secondary ulceration, respectively.4 These complications are preventable by

doctors' awareness of the potential hazard.

Simon S Lo, assistant professor of radiation oncology

Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL 60153, USA slo

 

 

 

 

Competing interests: None declared.

 

References

 

Shiralkar S, Rennie A, Snow M, Galland RB, Lewis MH, Gower-Thomas K. Doctors'

knowledge of radiation exposure: questionnaire study. BMJ 2003;327: 371-2. (16

August.)[Free Full Text]

Food and Drug Administration. Public health advisory: avoidance of serious

x-ray-induced skin injuries to patients during fluoroscopically-guided

procedures. September 30, 1994. Rockville, MD: Center for Devices and

Radiological Health, FDA, 1994.

Huda W, Peters KR. Radiation-induced temporary epilation after a

neuroradiologically guided embolization procedure. Radiology 1994:193:

642-4.[Abstract]

Wagner LK, Eifel PJ, Geise RA. potential biological effects following high

x-ray dose interventional procedures. J Vasc Intervent Radiol 1994;5:

71-84.[Abstract]

 

 

 

Other related articles in BMJ:

PAPERS

Doctors' knowledge of radiation exposure: questionnaire study.

S Shiralkar, A Rennie, M Snow, R B Galland, M H Lewis, and K Gower-Thomas

BMJ 2003 327: 371-372. [Full text]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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