ASSESSMENT OF INTEGRITY AND LEAD-EQUIVALENCE OF SHIELDED GARMENTS USING TWO-DIMENSIONAL X-RAY IMAGES FROM A COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY SCANNER

Abstract Shielded garments are widely recommended for occupational radiation protection in diagnostic and interventional radiology. This study investigated a novel method efficiently verifying shielded garment integrity while simultaneously acquiring data lead-equivalence measurements, using two-dimensional topogram images from computed tomography (CT) scanners. was tested against more-conventional measurements with superficial orthovoltage radiotherapy treatment beams, 12 containing 3 different lead-free shielding materials. Despite some energy-dependent results, all approximately achieved their specified the energy range expected during clinical use fluoroscopy procedures, except three skirts that required two layers of material to be overlapped at front. All CT topograms agreed or conservatively underestimated kV narrow-beam results. is potentially useful independently assessing properties new performing annual checks damage degradation existing garments.