Physician and patient exposure during cardiac catheterization.

A survey of the literature was conducted to establish the anticipated ranges of exposure to both physicians and patients during cardiac catheterization. A brief explanation of a technic for using time-lapse photography and a computer model for exposure calculation is presented. The thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) results used as controls for exposure values calculated by the developed technique are presented in detail. Physician eye exposures of approximately 20 mR per cardiac catheterization procedure were measured, which would suggest a limit of five procedures per week for physicians. The average patient skin entrance exposure of 28 R is high, as is the 12 mR gonadal exposure; however, they are accepted because of the possible benefits of the procedure.