Radiation dose optimisation and risk estimation to patients and staff during hysterosalpingography

Hysterosalpingography (HSG) is an efficient radiological examination for the evaluation of the female reproductive tract. However, it involves unavoidable irradiation to the ovaries of women in childbearing age. Therefore, radiation dose optimisation is required in order to reduce the probability of the associated risks. This study attempts to: measure patient and staff doses, estimate the effective dose and radiation risk for HSG using digital fluoroscopic images. Thirty-seven patients with infertility were examined using two digital X-ray machines. Thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLD) were used to measure entrance surface dose (ESD) for patients and staff during the procedure. The mean ESD and thyroid surface dose of the patient were 3.60 and 0.17 mGy, respectively, while the mean ESD for the staff was 0.18 mGy per procedure. The patient overall risk for cancer and hereditary effects is 24 x 10(-6), while the risk for the staff is negligible. HSG with fluoroscopic technique demonstrate improved dose characteristics, compared to the conventional radiographic-based technique, reducing the surface dose by a factor of 3, without compromising the diagnostic findings

Comparison of BLADE and conventional T2-TSE sequences for the sagittal visualization of the cervical spinal cord in multiple sclerosis patients - A case report

The purpose of this study is to report the significant differences found in the identification of lesions in cervical spinal cord of two patients with multiple sclerosis when using the BLADE T2-TSE and BLADE T2-TIRM sequences as opposed to the conventional T2-TSE and T2-TIRM sequences for sagittal acquisition at 1.5 T. In both patients, one more lesion was identified with the BLADE sequences than with the conventional ones. Consequently, we suggest the use of BLADE T2-TSE and BLADE T2-TIRM sequences in place of conventional ones for sagittal examination of the cervical spinal cord of multiple sclerosis patients. The advantages of TIRM to reveal the pathology of the cervical spinal cord and the advantage of BLADE sequences to improve image quality should be combined in a sequence that could be ideal for cervical spinal cord examinations. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved