A personal dose meter placed on an anesthesia machine has been shown to receive 15 times the radiation compared to the dosimeter worn by a scrub nurse. The position of the anesthesiologists on the left side of the patient where it is shown to receive more scatter radiation suggests that they may be exposed to more radiation dose than interventional cardiologists who are positioned on the right side of the patient.
These findings may be due to ineffective shielding as anesthesiologists frequently need to have direct patient contact during the procedure. This is compounded by their relatively fixed position during the procedure and inability to maintain a safe distance from the radiation source due to space limitation.
* Syvlvia Marie R. Biso and Mladen I. Vidovich, Radiation protection in the cardiac catheterization laboratory, J Thorac Dis. 2020 Apr; 12(4): 1648–1655.