Radiation exposure of a mobile 3D C-arm with large flat-panel detector for intraoperative imaging and navigation - an experimental study using an anthropomorphic Alderson phantom

Table 2 Mean radiation exposures with standard deviation in μSv for acquisition of one cervical and one lumbar standard fluoroscopic image, respectively. The according exposure parameters are shown on the right. For each reading of a test series that was below the lower detection limit of the dosemeters, the value of the lower detection limit (44 μSv for film dosemeters) was used leading to the final estimation of a maximum radiation exposure of 0.11 μSv (44 μSv/400)

Type of dosemeter	Radiation exposure								X-ray tube voltage, current intensity
Type of dosemeter	Film dosemeter						Electronic Personal Dosemeter
Site of dosemeter	Eye lenses	Thyroid gland	Female gonad	Male gonad	C-arm generator	C-arm detector	Above lead apron ^a	Under lead apron ^a	Lateral projection	Anterior-posterior projection
Cervical fluoroscopic image
Vision RFD 3D	10.6 ± 6.1	38.6 ± 11.4	< 0.11	< 0.11	0.39 ± 0.01^b	0.57 ± 0.03	0.135	0.000	52 kV, 10.4 mA	58 kV, 12.0 mA
Vision FD Vario 3D ^c	3.2 ± 0.2	50.6 ± 0.9	< 0.11	< 0.11	0.31 ± 0.01	0.58 ± 0.01	0.130	0.003	59 kV, 3.9 mA	65 kV, 4.8 mA
Lumbar fluoroscopic image
Vision RFD 3D	0.15 ± 0.03	0.16 ± 0.02	132.9 ± 4.5^b	0.72 ± 0.34	1.95 ± 0.03^b	2.01 ± 0.02^b	1.860	0.003	79 kV, 16.3 mA	74 kV, 15.7 mA
Vision FD Vario 3D ^c	0.17 ± 0.01	0.26 ± 0.02	18.4 ± 9.3	0.27 ± 0.12	1.76 ± 0.03	1.76 ± 0.05	1.110	0.023	81 kV, 9.9 mA	74 kV, 8.5 mA

^aRadiation exposures above and under a lead apron in μSv for acquisition of cervical and lumbar standard fluoroscopic images at the surgeon’s position directly next to the C-arm generator
^bindicate p-values < 0.05 in comparison to the Vision FD Vario 3D
^cResults of Klingler et al. [3]

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