Dose-Tracking System as a Tool to Manage Radiation Exposure

J INVASIVE CARDIOL 2020;32(11):E298. 

Key words: dose-tracking system, radiation exposure, radiation protection

A 73-year-old patient underwent a complex percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to treat a totally chronic occluded right coronary artery. After 80 minutes of fluoroscopy and a successful procedure, the patient’s cumulative air kerma was 4937 mGy. After 8 weeks follow-up, the patient did not develop any skin injury. 

Deterministic skin injuries can be detected weeks after radiation exposure. However, clinical follow-up is frequently empiric, because it is impossible to precisely determine which skin area was exposed to a higher dose.

The PCI was performed with a dose-tracking system (Canon Medical Systems) that facilitates the management of radiation exposure. The dose-tracking system is a real-time radiation skin-dose monitor displaying a color-coded peak skin dose during fluoroscopic-guided procedures. An integrated monitor displays the peak skin dose in real time trough a color-coded graphic (Figure 1). The initial radiation exposure is indicated in blue. As the dose increases, the graphic colors change to green, yellow, and red after 3000 mGy. It is an intuitive and easy-to-interpret patient graphic for dose distribution.

This new tool can help physicians provide patients with better care after higher radiation exposure dose following interventional procedures.

From ¹CINECORS Cardiologia LTDA, Porto Alegre – RS – Brazil; and ²Canon Medical Systems do Brasil, Brazil. 

Disclosure: The authors have completed and returned the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. The authors report no conflicts of interest regarding the content herein.

The authors report that patient consent was provided for publication of the images used herein.

Manuscript accepted April 29, 2020.

Address for correspondence: Cristiano de Oliveira Cardoso, MD, PhD, MBA, CINECORS Cardiologia LTDA, Av. Ipiranga 1801 – 8° Andar, CEP 90160-092, Porto Alegre-RS, Brazil. Email: cro_cardoso@yahoo.com.br