Occupational doses of cardiologists in cath labs and simulation method.

In recent years, using the ionizing radiation in the interventional cardiology has been increased; this is because of the rapid growth of the number of interventional procedures and the high levels of radiation dose in these examinations. Therefore, it is necessary to develop procedures for managing the use of fluoroscopy radiation to ensure that patients and personnel are not exposed to excessive levels of radiation. It seems that by the new generation devices of fluoroscopy that are equipped with a real dosimeters or dose area product (DAP)-meter which are able to record the produced dose rate in the area of patient's body in each procedure, it is possible to calculate the cardiologist dose with simulation. In addition, a relationship can be made between the patient DAP and cardiologist dose that is defined as an appropriate conversion factor. Hence, in each procedure, besides the record of patient's DAP, the cardiologist dose is recorded as well.