Erroneous X-ray dose measurements in paediatric cardiac investigations]

According to national and international rules the x-ray exposure of cardiac catheter examinations have to be measured. For a Philips Integris angiographic system used for paediatric heart catheterization we found severe errors in the indicated time of fluoroscopy and total dose area product (DAP) both for fluoroscopy and radiography. Fluoroscopy times shorter than 6 seconds and DAPs smaller than 0.1 Gy cm(2) are ignored and not considered in the indicated total fluoroscopy time and the fluoroscopic and radiographic DAPs. This error leads to a systematic underestimation of the risk of radiation-induced cancer especially with infants and children.