Performances of a protector against scattered radiation during intraoperative use of a C-arm fluoroscope

The scattered radiation protector for mobile x-ray systems, Creative Valuable Protector-2, has been recently developed. However, there have been no studies investigating the effects of this device. We aim to investigate the effects of the scattered radiation protector on the equivalent doses from scattered radiation delivered to radiosensitive organs while simulating spine surgery using a C-arm fluoroscope. Chest and rando phantoms were used to simulate a patient and a surgeon in this study. The equivalent dose from scattered radiation to radiosensitive organs was measured in four different situations according to the use of the scattered radiation protector and the C-arm configuration. To compare the quality of the images with and without the scattered radiation protector, an acryl step phantom with five steps was used, and the contrast resolution of each step was calculated. The equivalent dose from the scattered radiation to the surgeon's eye, thyroid, and gonad decreased significantly by using the scattered radiation protector for both the Posteroanterior (PA) (p < 0.001) and Anteroposterior (AP) (p < 0.001) C-arm configurations. The installation of the scattered radiation protector also reduced the direct radiation dose to the chest phantom. A scattered map showed that scattered radiation doses decreased by approximately 50% for the PA configuration and 75% for the AP configuration by using the scattered radiation protector. Before and after installation of the scattered radiation protector, the contrast resolution of each adjacent step area was 0.025-0.404 and 0.216-0.421. The scattered radiation protector was effective in reducing not only the equivalent dose from scattered radiation to the surgeon's radiosensitive organs, but also the direct radiation dose to the patient. This was all achieved without decreasing the quality of the C-arm fluoroscopic images.