Patient peak skin doses from cardiac interventional procedures.

Interventional cardiac procedures not only lead to significant effective doses for the patient but also can potentially cause deterministic effects on the patient's skin. Information about the peak (maximal) skin doses (PSD) received by patients during percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty procedures were collected from three cardiac catheter rooms. Cumulative dose at the interventional reference point (CD(IRP)) was collected for 161 patients and for 16 patients PSD was determined using Gafchromic dosimetry films. The comparison showed that CD(IRP) readings give a useful but conservative estimation of patient peak skin dose as it can lead to a significant overestimation. The median and third quartile values of CD(IRP) were 0.64 and 0.92 Gy, respectively. The 2 Gy threshold for deterministic effects was exceeded in nine patients. A good correlation was found between CD(IRP) and kerma area product measurements while the correlation with fluorography time was very weak.