A pacemaker, which is used for heart resynchronization with electrical impulses, is used to manage many clinical conditions. Recently, the frequency of pacemaker implantation procedures has increased to more than 50% worldwide. During this procedure, patients can be exposed to excessive radiation exposure. Wide range of doses has been reported in previous studies, suggesting that optimization of this procedure has not been fulfilled yet. The current study evaluated patient radiation exposure during cardiac pacemaker procedures and quantified the patient effective dose. A total of 145 procedures were performed for five pacemaker procedures (VVI, VVIR, VVD, VVDR, and DDDR) at two hospitals. Patient doses were measured using the kerma-area product meter. Effective doses were estimated using software based on Monte Carlo simulation from the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB, now The Health Protection Agency). The effective dose values were used to estimate cancer risk from the pacemaker procedure. Patient demographic data and exposure parameters for fluoroscopy and radiography were quantified. The mean patient doses ± SD per procedure (Gycm2) for VVI, VVIR, VVD, VVDR, and DDDR were 1.52 ± 0.13 (1.43-1.61), 3.28 ± 2.34 (0.29-8.73), 3.04 ± 1.67 (1.57-4.86), 6.04 ± 2.326 3.29-8.58), and 8.8 ± 3.6 (4.5-26.20), respectively. The overall patient effective dose was 1.1mSv per procedure. It is obvious that the DDDR procedure exposed patients to the highest radiation dose. Patient dose variation can be attributed to procedure type, exposure parameter settings, and fluoroscopy time. The results of this study showed that patient doses during different pacemaker procedures are lower compared to previous reported values. Patient risk from pacemaker procedure is low, compared to other cardiac interventional procedures. Patients' exposures were mainly influenced by the type of procedures and the clinical indication.
Infection, the invasion of pathogenic microorganisms and viruses, causes reactive inflammation mediated by endogenous signals, with influx of leucocytes with distinct properties and capable of mounting a cellular or antibody response. Different forms of inflammation may also occur in response to tumours, in allergy and autoimmune disorders. Pneumonia, respiratory tract infection and septic shock for instance can arise as serious complications of the Covid-19 virus. While radiotherapy has been most widely used to control malignant tumours, it has also been used for treatment of non-malignant diseases, including acute and chronic inflammation in situations where anti-inflammatory drugs may be ineffective or contraindicated. The present review examines the history and prospects for low-dose anti-inflammatory radiation treatments, the present interest largely being motivated by the increased incidence of pulmonary disease associated Covid-19 infections. Evidence in support of the suggested efficacy are covered, together with an appraisal of one of the number of potential convenient sources that could complement external beam arrangements.
The environment of the Straits of Malacca receives pollution as a result of various industrial and anthropogenic sources, making systematic studies crucial in determining the prevailing water quality. Present study concerns concentrations of natural radionuclides and heavy metals in marine fish (Rastrelliger kanagurta) collected from the Straits of Malacca, since aquatic stock form an important source of the daily diet of the surrounding populace. Assessment was made of the concentrations of key indicator radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th, 40K) and heavy metals (As, Mn, Fe, Cr, Ni, Zn, Cu, Co, Sr, Al, Hg and Pb) together with various radiation indices linked to the consumption of seafish. The annual effective dose for all detected radionuclides for all study locations has been found to be within UNSCEAR acceptable limits as has the associated life-time cancer risk. The overall contamination of the sampled fish from heavy metals was also found to be within limits of tolerance.
Accidents resulting in widespread dispersal of radioactive materials have given rise to a need for materials that are convenient in allowing individual dose assessment. The present study examines natural Dead Sea salt adopted as a model thermoluminescence dosimetry system. Samples were prepared in two different forms, loose-raw and loose-ground, subsequently exposed to 60Co gamma-rays, delivering doses in the range 2-10 Gy. Key thermoluminescence (TL) properties were examined, including glow curves, dose response, sensitivity, reproducibility and fading. Glow curves shapes were found to be independent of given dose, prominent TL peaks for the raw and ground samples appearing in the temperature ranges 361-385 ºC and 366-401 ºC, respectively. The deconvolution of glow curves has been undertaken using GlowFit, resulting in ten overlapping first-order kinetic glow peaks. For both sample forms, the integrated TL yield displays linearity of response with dose, the loose-raw salt showing some 2.5 × the sensitivity of the ground salt. The samples showed similar degrees of fading, with respective residual signals 28 days post-irradiation of 66% and 62% for the ground and raw forms respectively; conversely, confronted by light-induced fading the respective signal losses were 62% and 80%. The effective atomic number of the Dead Sea salt of 16.3 is comparable to that of TLD-200 (Zeff 16.3), suitable as an environmental radiation monitor in accident situations but requiring careful calibration in the reconstruction of soft tissue dose (soft tissue Zeff 7.2). Sample luminescence studies were carried out via Raman and Photoluminescence spectroscopy as well as X-ray diffraction, ionizing radiation dependent variation in lattice structure being found to influence TL response.