Audit of radiation dose to patients during coronary angiography.

BACKGROUND: There is widespread concern about radiation doses imparted to patients during cardiology procedures in the medical community. The current study intends to audit and optimize radiation dose to patients undergoing coronary angiography (CA) performed using two dedicated cardiovascular machines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and forty nine patients who underwent CA are reported in this study. Dose auditing was done by implementing dose reduction strategies using spectral filters and by evaluating work practices of operators involved in performing CA. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: A Student's 't' test was used to analyze the statistical significance. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The radiation dose imparted to patients was measured using dose area product (DAP) meter. The mean DAP values during CA before optimization was 55.86 Gy cm2 and after optimization was 27.71 Gy cm2. No ill-effects of radiation were reported for patients who underwent CA. Use of copper filtration may be recommended for procedures performed using cardiovascular machines.