Reduction of radiation exposure in patients and cardiologists using a noise reduction technique in cardiac catheterization and percutaneous coronary intervention

Abstract

We examined the effect of reducing radiation exposure in 86 patients who underwent coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention before and after the introduction of an angiography system equipped with a noise reduction technique (NRT) based on an algorithm for noise reduction processing. Additionally, we examined the reduction in the occupational exposure dose over the past 5 years for 50 cardiologists. Using NRT, the incident imaging dose per frame (nGy/f) and fluoroscopic dose per pulse (nGy/p) of the flat panel detector were reduced from 120 nGy/f and 40 nGy/p to 70 nGy/f and 30 nGy/p, respectively. The dose area product (DAP) and air kerma (AK) per unit time and unit frame were calculated and compared before and after the introduction of the NRT. Significant effects of reducing the fluoroscopic dose by 26% and the imaging dose by 40% for the DAP were confirmed (P < 0.001). AK also showed a significant decrease of 28% (P < 0.001). Using the NRT, there were significant decreases in the exposure dose of cardiologists: decrease of 43% in the effective dose (P < 0.05) and 48% in the equivalent dose to lens of the eye (P < 0.05).