Title: Fluoroscopic Technique in ERCP Matters More Than Experience for Radiation Exposure
Abstract: Introduction: Endoscopic retrograde retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a procedure used to diagnose and treat pancreaticobiliary disease. Fluoroscopy is used routinely during this procedure and recent studies have demonstrated that endoscopist experience decreases radiation exposure to the patient. In this study, we compared radiation exposure to the patient between our institution's high and low volume endoscopists. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed ERCPs performed at our academic medical center. We recorded procedural endoscopist, fluoroscopy time (FT, min), total radiation dose (mGy), dose area product (DAP, Gy-cm2), and effective dose (ED, mSv). ERCP degree of difficulty was graded based on procedure complexity score. There is one high volume endoscopist (HVE) and two low volume endoscopist (LVE) at our institution. All endoscopists used single frame fluoroscopy during ERCP. Results: There were a total of 400 ERCP procedures performed, 32 of which were unsuccessful. The overall mean fluoroscopy time was 1.57 minutes, mean total radiation dose was 23.02 mGy, mean total DAP was 3.61 Gy-cm2, and mean effective dose was 0.94 mSv. There was no statistically significant difference between HVE and LVE for fluoroscopy time or any of the measures of radiation exposure. There was also no statistically significant difference when radiation exposure was adjusted using procedure complexity score. Conclusion: By using the same fluoroscopic technique among all ERCP procedures, differences in endoscopist experience (high volume versus low volume), do not matter when comparing radiation exposure to the patient. Single frame fluoroscopy, regardless of operator experience, significantly reduces the radiation exposure to a patient during ERCP.Table 1: Patient Radiation Exposure
Publication Year: 2015
Publication Date: 2015-10-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot