Question

27. How would you advise an interventional radiologist to protect themselves from the long term effects of exposure to radiation (primarily X-rays) to ensure a long career in practice with the lowest possible risk of developing radiation induced cancer? In your answer, note what parts of their bodies and tissues would be most at risk and the principles of radiation safety that you are applying..

Answer 1

Protection from long term effects of radiation

• Technicians should  wear shielding devices, such as lead aprons, gloves, goggles and masks for radiation protection whenever necessary.
• Technicians should wear badges that measure their exposure to radiation, and detailed records keep track of this in order to prevent it from exceeding the recommended lifetime limits.

Amongst the body cells, the most sensitive are spermatogonia and erythroblasts, epidermal stem cells, gastrointestinal stem cells. The least sensitive are nerve cells and muscle fibers.

principles of radiation safety:

1. The principle of justification: Any alteration in the radiation exposure situation should do more good than harm.
2. The principle of optimization of protection: the likelihood of incurring exposures, the number of people exposed, and the magnitude of their individual doses should all be kept as low as reasonably acievable, taking into account economic and societal factors.