DOSE EVALUATION AND PROPOSAL OF LOCAL DIAGNOSTIC REFERENCE LEVELS FOR PAEDIATRIC CARDIAC CATHETERIZATIONS PERFORMED ON A HIGH-SENSITIVITY ANGIOGRAPHIC SYSTEM ALLOWING LOW-DOSE IMAGING.

Radiation doses from paediatric cardiac catheterizations were analysed based on procedure type and patient weight, and local diagnostic reference levels (LDRLs) were proposed. The procedures were performed on a Siemens Artis Q.zen biplane system with high-sensitivity detectors allowing low-dose imaging. Good radiological practice, e.g. adapting dose level and frame rate continuously and minimizing the x-ray field with collimators, was routine during procedures. The median total dose-area-product (DAP) value was 58 μGym2 for diagnostic catheterizations, 48 μGym2 for interventional catheterizations and 33 μGym2 for myocardial biopsies. The median DAP per body weight was 4.0 μGym2 kg-1. The median total fluoroscopy time varied from 6.0 min for myocardial biopsies, to 9.7 and 10.5 min, respectively, for diagnostic and interventional catheterizations. The third quartile of the DAP values in each weight group was proposed as LDRL. LDRLs for fluoroscopy time were determined solely based on procedure type, due to the absence of weight dependence.