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Radiation injury from x‐ray exposure during brachytherapy localization
Author(s) -
Thomadsen B. R.,
Paliwal B. R.,
Petereit D. G.,
Ranallo F. N.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.599036
Subject(s) - brachytherapy , medicine , radiography , radiation injury , nuclear medicine , radiology , medical imaging , medical physics , radiation therapy
Two patients developed skin ulcers secondary to high doses of diagnostic‐energy x rays received during localization procedures as part of brachytherapy treatments. Both were morbidly obese and diabetic. The obesity led to the delivery of estimated skin doses of 83 Gy in one case and 29 Gy in the other in attempts to produce readable images on localization radiographs. This report discusses the factors leading to the injuries, the progression of the injuries over time, and the variables involved in the localization procedures with the aim of preventing future mishaps. The greatest contribution to the large skin dose was the need, with the equipment available, to use multiple exposures to produce a single film, because of the effect of the resultant reciprocity failure.