Problems of personnel irradiation in modern medical technologies

BACKGROUND: The widespread use of radiation sources in medical practice (cardio-endovascular surgery, endoscopy, traumatology, urology, neurosurgery, dentistry, and radioisotope diagnostics departments) leads to irradiation of the lens of the eye and the skin of the hands. The introduction of new recommendations by the IAEA to reduce the limit of the annual equivalent dose to the lens (20 mSv) has led to an inaccurate dose assessment based on the effective dose. AIM: To analyze approaches and assess equivalent doses of irradiation of the lens of the eye and skin of the hands of medical personnel during various diagnostic studies under the influence of X-rays and radiopharmaceuticals studies and to compare the results obtained with previously published data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thermo-luminescent dosimetry was used. Dose assessment was performed by cardio-endovascular surgery, endoscopy, isotope diagnostics, dentistry, and urology personnel. RESULTS: The estimated annual equivalent doses to the lens of the eye for doctors of cardio-endovascular surgery departments, in most cases, ranging 3590 mSv, 619 mSv for the average medical staff (in some cases, the doctor [225 mSv] and the nurse [180 mSv]) and 4.59 mSv for the staff of the department of radioisotope diagnostics. The annual calculated equivalent doses to the skin of the hands for cardio-endovascular surgery personnel were 17100 and 24220 mSv for the staff working with radiopharmaceuticals. It is shown that the use of an estimate of the average dose per operation by cardio-endovascular surgery doctors, as a rule, inevitably leads to an excess of the equivalent dose to the lens of the eye after a certain number of operations. CONCLUSION: When a certain number of operations are exceeded (100200), equivalent doses to the eyes lens in cardio-endovascular surgery doctors above 20 mSv per year can be formed. At current radiation levels, a lesion of the eyes lens was found in a cardio-endovascular surgery doctor. The results indicate the need for further dosimetric measurements and epidemiological studies, based on which recommendations for radiation protection of the eyes lens and the skin of the hands of medical personnel working in low-intensity, scattered, gamma X-ray radiation can be developed

The Effectiveness of Retinalamin® Administered by Various Intramuscular Injection Timings in the Treatment of Patients with the Dry Form of Age- Related Macular Degeneration

The paper presents the evaluation of Retinalamin efficacy administered intramuscularly to 90 patients (180 eyes) aged 47 to 75 (averagely, 65.9 ± 7.18 years) with various stages of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) once or twice in 6 months. The data of multifocal electroretinography (MfERG) showed that in 80 % of cases of early and intermediate AMD stages, the functional state of the retina improved after a course of Retinalamin, reaching a peak 2 months after the start of treatment. A second course of Retinalamin, given 3 months later, resulted in a more pronounced improvement of the functional parameters, achieving the maximum in the month 5 of the follow-up period. This is confirmed by a change in the P1 component of Mf ERG, which proved to be the most pronounced in the central ring, corresponding to the foveal area. In more than 70 % of cases with atrophic AMD, a positive dynamics of the functional activity of the macula was noted only after a repeated course of intramuscular injections of Retinalamin, whose curative effect reached the maximum in the month 5 of the follow-up. An increase in the density of the P1 component of MfERG was more noticeable in the last two rings, corresponding to the periphery of macula // Russian Ophthalmological Journal, 2016; 1: 39-46

Visual Evoked Potentials of the Retina and Visual Cortex after a Prolonged Exposure to the Radiation of LED Fixtures with Variable Spectral Energy Characteristics

The paper’s objective was to determine the nature of changes in the bioelectric activity of the retina and the visual cortex in conditions of long-term staying of man in an enclosed space with artificial light generated by light-emitting diode (LED) lamps with variable spectral and power characteristics. In addition to a set of standard ophthalmic examinations, we recorded electroretinograms (ERG) to diffuse flashes, pattern-reversing and multifocal stimuli, and visual evoked cortical potentials (VEP) using the diagnostic system RETIport/scan21. The examinations were carried out in four healthy volunteers before and after an 11-day hermetic-chamber experiment simulating conditions of the spacecraft. Prolonged exposure to closed LED lighting created by sources with a high correlated color temperature (CCT), was shown to have no pronounced negative impact on the function of the retina. Changes in the amplitude of the ERG and VEP were minor, but displayed certain features specified by the history of previous injuries or functional disorders. Also, according to VEP waveforms to reversing checkerboard pattern, a characteristic sign of changes in the activity of the visual system in all participants was a splitting of the P100 peak, possibly related to temporal uncoupling of the activity of various visual channels. Thus, artificial LED lighting with high CCT can have both positive and adverse effects on the functional activity of the retina and the visual cortex, the nature of which, apparently, depends on the initial functional state of the visual system // Russian Ophthalmological Journal, 2016; 1: 48-55