Avaliação ocupacional da dose de radiação nas mãos e cristalino em exame radiológico contrastado de uretrocistografia miccional

Abstract

The Micturition Urethrocystography exam (MCU) is a fluoroscopic procedure to diagnose diseases of the urinary system in children. During the procedure, usually two professionals remain inside the examination room, to position and immobilize the patient. Due to the low understanding of young patients, the MCU examination tends to be prolonged and often presenting the need to be redone, thus increasing the time of exposure of the professionals who accompany the patient during the procedure. Thus, it is important to know and evaluate the doses received by these professionals. The study aimed to verify the dose of radiation received by the eyes and hands of two professionals who follow the MCU procedure. The applied methodology was the use of a phantom with characteristics of a one-year-old patient as simulator object was used to simulate the professionals' exposure. For the collection of doses was used an ionization chamber type detector, fixed in a support simulating the region of the crystalline and hands of the positions of both professionals during the procedure. In each position, a fluoroscopic simulation with 54 seconds and 4 radiographs were performed to obtain a mean dose. The data obtained were extrapolated to simulate the annual dose received by each professional. As a result, it was found the position of the crystalline of the professional one (which is positioned perpendicular to the patient's waist region) presented an annual dose estimate of 21.413 mSv, exceeding the dose limit established by the relevant standards. Both the hands and the crystalline of the professional two (positioned at the patient's feet) demonstrated a dose estimate below the established threshold, being 16,521 mSv for the lens and 35 mSv for the hand region. The highest estimated dose was for the hands of the professional 1, it was 65,642 mSv.