Premature infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) are not exposed to radiation scatter as long as incubators (also known as isolettes) are spaced at least 2 ft (93 cm) from each other, according to a report published online in Pediatric Radiology.
Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in the Bronx, NY, wanted to investigate whether scatter radiation affected infants who were located in the NICU next to critically ill premature babies who had received multiple radiography exposures. The study was published in the December 8, 2009, edition of Pediatric Radiology.
The researchers acquired phantom images with a mobile radiography system and measured different levels of scatter radiation at different distances between isolettes. They found that there was minimal scatter for all measurements compared to the daily natural background radiation dose (8.493 micrograys per day) at both 2 and 3 ft (125 cm) between isolettes.
For infants in isolettes located 2 and 3 ft from the patient having a chest x-ray exam, the calculated cumulative dose for 60 radiographs with vertical-beam exposures was approximately one-half and one-fourth of daily background radiation. The greatest scatter dose was obtained from a horizontal beam radiograph at 135° from the incident beam, according to lead author Dr. Angela Trinh.
Based on these findings, the researchers do not believe that it is necessary to shield infants in adjacent isolettes as long as the isolettes have a distance of 2 ft between each one. This distance is well within the current guidelines of 4 to 8 ft between isolettes recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in Elk Grove Village, IL, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) in Washington, DC.
"Our data confirm that infants requiring radiographs need not be moved as long as this minimal safe distance between infants is maintained," according to the authors.
By Cynthia E. Keen
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
January 12, 2010
Related Reading
Study calculates radiation dose risk for infants in Belgian NICU, January 8, 2009
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