Radiation exposure to patients and examiners duringendoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatographyprocedures380

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ercp) is nowwidely used in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal tract disorders.a large number of x-ray fluoroscopy and digital radiographs make ercp as aninterventional radiological procedure. in this study, patients' and examiner'sentrance skin doses (esds) were measured during diagnosis and treatmentprocedures and patients' effective dose (ed) were calculated. materials andmethods: thermoluminescent dosimeters (tlds) and dose area productmeter (dap) were used to measure esds of 30 patients and examiner andcalculate patients' ed. besides, to assess the effectiveness of an extra leadshield in decreasing examiner's esds, a lead cover was wrapped around the xraytube. the data were analyzed with ibm spss statistics version 16software. results: the mean dap and fluoroscopy time (ft) of the diagnosticprocedure were 4.09 gy.cm2 and 32.4 s while those of the therapeuticprocedure were 7.60 gy.cm2 and 76.2 s. the strong linear correlationbetween dap and ft was observed for the therapeutic procedures but thediagnostic ones. the patients' mean eds of diagnostic procedure (1.21±0.52msv) and therapeutic one (2.25±1.72 msv) were calculated. moreover, theshielding cover around the x-ray tube decreased esds of the organs ofinterest except gonads. conclusions: the results reveal that therapeutic ercpprocedure imposes a greater radiation dose compared to diagnostic ercpone. however, the doses of the patient and the examiner depend highly onexaminer's experience, technical skills and knowledge in radiation protection.the results suggest that attempts to reduce radiation doses should be made.