EVALUATION OF OCCUPATIONAL RADIATION DOSE IN TRANSCATHETER AORTIC VALVE IMPLANTATION.

Occupational doses during fluoroscopy in interventional procedures vary largely (Kim et al. (Occupational radiation doses to operators performing cardiac catheterization procedures. Health Phys. 2008;94:211-227)). In transcatheter aortic valve implantation, the operators' positions and use of radiation shielding are particularly related to the entry choice on the patient's heart. This study evaluates how occupational doses depend on operator positioning during transfemoral and transaortal access. Occupational dosimetric readings were collected with electronic dosemeters on two cardiothoracic surgeons and one cardiologist during 31 procedures. The findings were significantly higher body doses and eye lens doses to the surgeons during transaortal access compared to transfemoral access. The median equivalent eye lens dose per procedure received by the cardiologists was 0.05-0.06 mSv; hence, the cardiologists should wear protective eye wear to prevent reaching the proposed annual dose limit of 20 mSv to the eye lens. Surgeons ought to use protective eye wear as well, and should only perform a restricted number of transcatheter aortic valve implantations with transaortal access annually.