Re: Radiation
Yes, 1 minute of fluoro is very high. If it tells you anything there is a 5 minute warning bell on the fluoroscopy machine to warn the surgeon and it goes off every 5 minutes. According to Steven B. Dowd & Elwin R. Tilson in "Practical Radciation Protection and Applied Radiobiology" 2nd edition:
"The absorbed dose rate in the skin from the direct beam of a fluoroscopic x-ray system is typically between 0.02Gy/min and 0.05Gy/min (2 to 5 rad/min), but may be higher, depending on the mode in which the equipment is operated and the size of the patient. Even typical dose rates can result in skin injury after less than one hour of fluoroscopy. Physicians performing high-dose fluoroscopy procedures should be aware of the potential for serious, radiation induced skin injury caused by long periods of fluoroscopy during these procedures. It is important to note that the onset of these injuries is usually delayed, so that the physician cannot discern the damage by observing the patient immediately after the treatment."
Different states have different laws about fluoroscopy. Some state you have to be a licensed physician to use fluoroscopy but I live in Texas and in Texas the radiology technologists can run the fluoroscopy machines and I used it on patients while I was in school. It can be kind of scary because I knew of one tech that didn't care about patient care at all and she would never change the settings on the machine because she was too lazy and prided herself on being quick...no matter if you overradiate your patient! She was really bad about x-rays too. She didn't take time to position the patient correctly and ended up with a lot of repeats. Spine x-rays, shoulders, knees, femurs and the skull give quite a lot of radiation and you should not be having to repeat them because you are too lazy to get it right the first time. Actually, chest x-rays are rather a low dose because it is mainly air you are penetrating. You still don't want the tech to have to repeat it or not use the collimation guide that helps from scattering the x-rays. If anyone is interested I can tell a little bit about the difference in the MRI and CT scan later. Always ask the tech to shield you when possible. The most sensitive body parts to radiation are thyroid, breasts, and gonads.
Happy belated 4th to everyone...hope it has been a nice weekend!
Roblin
|