Impact of collimation on radiation exposure during interventional electrophysiology

Abstract

AimsFluoroscopy remains a cornerstone imaging technique in contemporary electrophysiology practice. We evaluated the impact of collimation to the 'minimal required field size' on clinically significant parameters of radiation exposure.Methods and resultsRadiation dose measured by dose area product (DAP) and radiation dose rate measured by DAP per minute of fluoroscopy were determined for all 571 electrophysiology procedures performed in a single electrophysiology laboratory from January 2010 to December 2010. Data from 205 procedures performed by one interventional electrophysiologist, who instituted a practice of routinely collimating to the minimum required visual fluoroscopy field on a ca..