Objective: To assess patient radiation doses during diagnostic cerebral angiography from a tertiary neuro-intervention center.
Materials and methods: We studied 161 patients including 149 adults (83 male; 66 female) and 12 pediatric patients who underwent diagnostic cerebral angiography (DCA) for suspected or proven intracranial aneurysms which were performed with a biplane unit. Fluoroscopic time, dose-area product (DAP), and total angiographic image frames were obtained and analyzed in males, females and pediatric population separately.
Results: Mean fluoroscopic time, the total mean DAP, and total image frames were 11.6 minutes, 105.6 ± 60 Gy-cm2, and 295 ± 82 frames for diagnostic procedures.
Separate assessment in males, females and pediatric population was made. No significant difference was found between male and female population. Pediatric population, however, showed reduced DAP values (104 vs. 84 Gycm2) and a number of frames (308 vs. 271.5) with increased fluoroscopic time (11.6 vs. 14.28 min) when compared to the adult population.
Conclusion: Radiation dose as measured by DAP, fluoroscopy time and image frames is consistent with previous studies. Further data from other institutes can help in establishing a national registry for radiation exposure and help in framing guidelines for radiation protection.