Medical staff monitoring in interventional cardiology: over apron dosemeter placement based on measurements and simulations.

Interventional cardiology is characterized by high radiation exposure for both the patient and the operator. Adequate shielding and monitoring of the operator are fundamental to comply with radiation protection principles. In a previous work, the effect on the dose of the dosemeter position on the chest was studied. In this paper, the investigation has been completed, employing an anthropomorphic thorax phantom, equipped with arms. Although there are differences between the Monte Carlo simulations and the measurements, similar trends are observed, showing that the reduction in dose, due to the arms, is between 20 and 60%, compared with the situation without arms. For that reason, considering a dosemeter placed on the chest, the upper position, which is the least affected by the arms, should be preferred while the extreme lateral position, near the armpit, should be avoided.

PRELIMINARY STUDY OF NEUTRON FIELD IN TOP-IMPLART PROTON THERAPY BEAM.

The TOP-IMPLART, a new proton therapy facility, is under development in Frascati ENEA Laboratories, near Rome. The project is centered on a medium-energy proton accelerator designed as a sequence of modular linear accelerators (the final energy will be 230 MeV). Being not a commercial product, measurements and simulation are fundamental to characterize the system and the radiation field, even during its construction. In this work some preliminary evaluations of the neutron contamination have been tried. The simulations were validated through some measurements obtaining a satisfactory agreement. A more detailed calculations and measurements campaign is scheduled for the next future.

EDEL: ENEA DOSEMETER FOR EYE LENS.

Since the publication of International Commission on Radiological Protection statement in 2011 on tissue reaction, eye lens radiation protection played an important role in exposed personnel dosimetry. For this reason, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) Individual Monitoring Service decided to study a prototype to fulfil specific requests (e.g. for survey in interventional department and intercomparisons). On the basis of such preliminary investigation, a new eye lens dosemeter was developed. The new dosemeter, named EDEL (ENEA Dosemeter for Eye Lens), was characterised in terms of Hp(3), the operational quantity related to eye lens monitoring. The investigation was performed experimentally and optimised using the Monte Carlo MCNP6 code. The new prototype was thought to fulfil two main requests: the reliability of the dosimetric data and the portability of the dosemeter itself. The new dosemeter will soon be supplied to the collaborating hospitals for workplace test measurements.