Evaluation of the Long-Term Exposure to Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation on Catheterization Process Workers

Background: Workers in cardiac catheterization centers that employ X-rays may be exposed to low quantities of ionizing radiation for long periods of time, causing damage to human cells and tissues. Blood cell composition testing is an important monitoring technique in the typical diagnostic examination. Objectives: The present study has been designed to evaluate Ionizing radiation's impact on the hematological parameters of occupational exposure in a cardiac catheterization lab at Azadi teaching hospital in Duhok city of Iraq. Methods: The study involved 40 hospital employees working in medical radiation centers who have been exposed to lower doses of ionizing radiation during Radiotherapy or diagnostic and the 32 unexposed workers as control. The correlation between the total dose and the hematological indices of exposed workers is examined using a bivariate regression analysis program. Results: The results looked to be significantly different with (p<0.05) compared to the respective controls in all blood parameters. Nevertheless, there is no significant difference (p>0.05) in Mean corpuscular volume, Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin, Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration, White blood cells, and Lymphocytes values obtained as compared with the control. Conclusions: The study found that almost some hematological parameters are affected by radiation. Further research should incorporate a variety of other independent factors such as (chromosomal aberrations and genetic polymorphisms) to study further low-dose radiation's long-term effects on personnel who were exposed to it.