A new and increasingly popular type of minimally invasive sinus surgery exposes patients to only "very low" doses of radiation during the procedure, a level considered to be safe, according to a new study published in the February 2008 issue of the journal Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.
The study's authors monitored 93 cases of balloon catheter sinus ostial dilation fluoroscopy performed over a ten-month period, using dosimeters to record radiation exposure to both the patient and the surgeon. The authors determined that the average dose of radiation received by a patient (0.32 mSv per sinus and 1.02 mSv over the eye) and the average total time of the procedure (just over three-and-a-half minutes) were enough to qualify as "very low" levels of exposure. (By comparison, the amount of natural background radiation you receive each year is between 2 and 4 mSv.)
MedicalNewsToday
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