The use of gonadal shielding in singular common diagnostic radiographic procedures
| Autor: | MK Stonehouse, R Clarke, AJ Buxton, SA Bowen, TF Wilcher, C McLennan, SS Dickson |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2007 |
| Předmět: |
endocrine system
education.field_of_study medicine.medical_specialty Gonad urogenital system business.industry Radiography Population Common procedures Threshold dose medicine.anatomical_structure Electromagnetic shielding medicine General Earth and Planetary Sciences Operations management In patient Radiology Genetic risk education business General Environmental Science |
| Zdroj: | Radiographer. 54:13-17 |
| ISSN: | 0033-8273 |
| Popis: | The aim of this study was to make recommendations regarding when the use of gonadal shielding is significant in reducing gonad dose for common diagnostic procedures. Two separate literature reviews were conducted and the data compared. The first review proposed to determine average entrance surface doses (ESD) for common diagnostic procedures and the second to determine a threshold for exposure to the gonads below which risk of genetic effects was negligible. By comparing accepted ESD and associated gonad doses with the threshold dose, recommendations for each procedure could be made. This recommendation would be that either gonadal shielding is significant in reducing risk of genetic effects for this examination, or that gonadal shielding would make no difference because the doses involved are negligible. Common procedures were selected as well as common series, based on the fact that these procedures contribute relatively high dose to the gonads. A threshold dose to the gonads was established to be 10 mGy. Below this level of exposure, genetic risk to the gonads is considered negligible. It was found that none of the series or individual exams contributed significant dose to the gonads (dose levels above the 10 mGy threshold). It should be noted, however, that this recommendation applies only to individual patients receiving individual exposures. The effect of repeat examinations or the risk to a population of patients was not considered. It was also found that gonadal shielding may alleviate fears of radiation exposure in patients. It was recommended that for all individual examinations/series included in this study that gonadal shielding was unnecessary because the doses involved present negligible genetic risk to the patient. However, best practice in radiography includes upholding the 'As low as reasonably achievable' principle (ALARA) and considering the fears of patients, and it is for this reason that gonadal shielding should be used. (author abstract) |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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