Can leaded glasses protect the eye lens in patients undergoing neck computed tomography?

Reza Abedi; Naser Ghaemian; Ali Shabestani Monfared; Mohammad Kiapour; Razzagh Abedi-Firouzjah; Fatemeh Niksirat; Alaba Tolulope Agbele; Kourosh Ebrahimnejad Gorji

Can leaded glasses protect the eye lens in patients undergoing neck computed tomography?

J Clin Transl Res. 2021 Jul 16;7(4):428-435. eCollection 2021 Aug 26.

Authors

Reza Abedi¹, Naser Ghaemian², Ali Shabestani Monfared³, Mohammad Kiapour¹, Razzagh Abedi-Firouzjah⁴, Fatemeh Niksirat⁴, Alaba Tolulope Agbele⁵, Kourosh Ebrahimnejad Gorji⁴

Affiliations

¹ Student Research Committee, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
² Department of Radiology and Radiotherapy, School of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
³ Cancer Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
⁴ Department of Medical Physics Radiobiology and Radiation Protection, School of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
⁵ Department of Medical Physics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

PMID: 34667888
PMCID: PMC8520700

Abstract

Background and aims: Computed tomography (CT) is one of the main sources using ionizing radiation. Considering the toxicity from this radiation, any technique that could reduce the radiosensitive organs' doses without affecting the image diagnostic quality must be considered in routine practice. In this study, the amount of eye lens dose reduction in the presence of radioprotective glasses was evaluated in neck CT examinations.

Methods: Thirty adult patients (15 men and 15 women) with a mean age of 44.6 years undergoing neck CT examination participated in this study. For each patient, six thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs-100) were attached above the eye lens glasses surface, and another six under the glasses to assess the radioprotective effect of the glasses. The TLDs were readout and converted to Hp (3) as an indicator of eye lens dose. The obtained results from the TLD readouts as eye lens dose were compared using a paired t-test.

Results: The TLD measurements showed the mean±standard deviation values of 2.97±0.61 mGy and 1.04±0.16 mGy for TLDs above and under the radioprotective glasses, respectively. The radioprotective glasses significantly decreased the eye lens dose by about 64.9% (P=0.001).

Conclusions: Due to the results, wearing radioprotective glasses for patients during neck CT scans could significantly reduce the eye lens doses.

Relevance for patients: The outcome of this research shows that leaded glasses can decrease the received dose significantly in patient during neck CT scans.

Keywords: eye lens dose; neck computed tomography; radioprotective glasses; thermo luminescence dosimeter.