Scatter radiation8/27/2023 Thanks to dosimetry programs, radiation workers can stay informed and avoid potential risks better than ever. In the long run, this is a great method for protection against scatter radiation should you exceed dose limit, you can adjust your work for the rest of the year to avoid further exposure. Through regular dose readings, you can know if you’ve reached or are close to reaching the annual NRC occupational dose limits. Although the measurement of exposure so obtained is not direct protection, being able to track your absorbed dose is essential to the practice of radiation safety. Radiation dosimeters worn on the body are able to provide a record of absorbed dose from ionizing radiation. The need for effective radiation monitoring has become more crucial to account for these modern practices. Dosimetry ProgramĪs medicine and medical technology advances, the use of radiation has become more ubiquitous there is now a greater risk of ionizing radiation exposure for occupational workers. 6 In general, shields are placed close to the source as that allows for a greater solid angle to be covered. For scatter radiation, a combination of moveable shields either suspended from the ceiling or on rollers in addition to fixed table shields are ideal. The practice of shielding can also include personal protective equipment (PPE) directly worn by individuals, such as thyroid shields, radiation protection glasses, and lead vests. For any radiation, though, the shielding should be something that absorbs radiation such as lead, concrete, or water. The material for these barriers normally depends on radiation source type. Shielding is the well-known practice of placing a barrier between you and a radiation source for minimizing exposure. 5 This is helpful to keep in mind when considering how much distance you’re able to maintain during patient treatments. A “ general rule of thumb” you can calculate is that any scatter radiation one meter from the side of the patient will be 0.1% of the primary x-ray beam intensity. Doubling your distance will cause dose rate to go down by a factor of four. Radiation exposure decreases with distance, following an inverse square law for a point source. The second ALARA principle, distance, encourages distancing yourself from radiation sources. If you must work near a source of radiation, work as quickly as possible and then leave the area to avoid spending more time around the source than necessary. The more time that you are exposed to scatter radiation increases the possibility for a higher overall dose. Limit the time that you spend near a radiation source while working. Here are the four ways to be best protected from scatter radiation: Time As such, following these practices would be our top recommendation for limiting occupational exposure, with a couple additions. The ALARA principle is the standard for keeping radiation exposure “As Low As Reasonably Achievable”. Radiation worker protection should take as much priority as patient protection when it comes to radiation exposure. 2 What are the effects of scatter radiation on the human body? Not all units are designed in this manner, however, and these scattered rays will be present in the imaging room until the diagnostic x-ray machine is turned off. Scatter coming out of the exit radiation from the patient is also present but reduced in intensity as compared with the entrance scatter below the table. In this case, the back scattered radiation produced by the entrance beam below the table is mostly towards the floor and lower extremities of the radiation worker. The primary beam for a C-Arm is sent up through the table into a patient before being read by the other side of the machine. Scatter radiation can be moderated through some machine positioning, like the C-Arm. As the primary beam intercepts the patient’s body tissues, some X-rays will bounce off those atoms to create secondary, specifically scatter, radiation. For scatter radiation, the “matter” that X-ray beams are most often interacting with is the patient in a procedure. 1 It occurs when the primary beam from a source such as a CT Scanner, X-Ray, or Fluoroscopy unit interacts with matter. Scatter radiation is a type of secondary radiation.
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