Radiation Safety Practical

Question 1

what do lead gowns, lead sleeves and thyroid shield protect against

Answer 1

scattered radiation

Question 2

why is it important to store protective clothing properly (gowns on hangers, etc)

Answer 2

folding/crumpling the protective clothing will lead to cracks in the lead rubber, and this will render the clothing ineffective as radio-protection

Question 3

what is the equivalent thickness of lead should be present in protective gowns/aprons and gloves/sleeves

Answer 3

gowns/aprons: 0.25mm lead equivalence

gloves/sleeves: 0.5mm lead equivalence

Question 4

when in the UK is it appropriate to restrain a small animal manually for radiography?

Answer 4

when to restrain the patient by other means (sandbags, sedation) is not possible due to clinical reasons –> has to be clear justification. Ex. severe dyspnea

Question 5

what are the 2 forms of digital radiograph system

Answer 5

1. computed radiography (CR): systems use the x-ray machine to create a latent image on a phosphor plate. After x-ray exposure the plate is placed in a reader which scans the latent image with a laser and develops the radiograph which is displayed on a monitor

direct digital radiography: use a plate to detect the x ray beam after it passes through the patient and directly convert this to a digital image

Question 6

why is it important to limit the scattered radiation reaching the cassette

Answer 6

scattered radiation reaching the cassette will cause blurring of the image, decreasing image