The Use of Radiation Attenuating Gloves Reduces Exposure to Scatter Radiation but not Direct Radiation

Objectives/Background: Diagnostic and interventional procedures are commonly performed under fluoroscopic guidance. The use of radiation attenuating gloves to reduce direct and scatter radiation to the hands of clinicians has been controversial. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of radiation attenuating gloves reduce direct and/or scatter radiation dose to the hands of the operator. Materials and Methods: We estimated the radiation dose to the hands by using chicken drumsticks to simulate a human hand, and a torso phantom with chicken drumsticks on top of the torso phantom to simulate the source of scatter radiation. Standard aluminum oxide Luxel+ ring badges manufactured by Landauer (Glenwood, IL, US) were placed over the drumsticks (hand) to measure the radiation received by each hand. The detector inside the ring badges is made out of aluminum oxide and can measure doses ranging from 1 mrem to 1000 mrem. On two of the hands, 0.008” thick bismuth oxide lined radiation attenuating gloves from F&L. Medical Products, LLC (Vandergrift, PA, US) (gloves) were placed over the hands, and on two hands, no radiation attenuating gloves were used (non-gloved). A pair of gloved and non-gloved hands were placed over the chicken-torso phantom (in radiation field) in the mid abdomen area, and the other pair of hands were placed at the groin (in scatter radiation). The radiation field was collimated to include the mid abdomen and hands in radiation field, and exclude the groin, the pelvis, and the scatter radiation hands. The radiation was turned on and off intermittently over 6 hours, at 80 kVp to simulate typical monthly radiation exposure a clinician receives. Radiation exposure readings were obtained in the standard fashion by Landaur. We evaluated four groups: Group 1: Gloved hand in beam field; Group 2: Non-gloved hand in beam field; Group 3: Gloved hand inscatter radiation; and Group 4: Non-gloved hand in scatter radiation. The radiation was turned on and off intermittently over 6 hours to simulate typical monthly radiation exposure a physician receives. Results: Total radiation dose for the ring badges were: Group 1: 5914 mrem; Group 2: 5626 mrem ; Group 3: 25 mrem; Group 4: 66 mrem. Conclusion: The use of radiation attenuating gloves outside of the radiation field reduced the scatter radiation by approximately 62%; however when used in the radiation field, the actual radiation dose to the physician’s hand appeared to increase slightly (5%).