Interventional fluoroscopic procedures enable medical professionals to image the functioning of a patient’s body in real time to diagnose or treat a medical condition. In the past 30 years, these procedures, which involve the use of radiation, have enabled physicians to diagnose and treat disease without using higher risk procedures such as surgery, allowing patients to recover faster with fewer complications.
Before fluoroscopic procedures were introduced, the use of cardiac catherization to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease required open heart surgery. Now, diagnosis and treatment can be performed concurrently with the less invasive technology. Other fluoroscopy uses include the detection and treatment of blood clots and to the direct administration of chemotherapy to cancer-stricken organs, such as the liver.
With the increase use of fluoroscopy, the need to protect both patients and medical staff from unnecessary radiation exposure grows. To help Member States build capacity in this field, the IAEA organized a regional training course from 7 to 11 May 2018 in Windhoek, Namibia.
Medical practitioners such as radiologists, cardiologists and medical physicists responsible for radiation protection learned about good practices that ensure the safety of interventional fluoroscopic procedures. The 21 participants represented institutions in 14 African countries: Algeria, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
The course featured lectures by experienced UK and US international radiologists and medical physicists as well as discussions, exercises and study visits to the Windhoek Central Hospital and Lady Pohamba Private Hospital.
IAEA Radiation Protection Specialist Debbie Gilley, who coordinated the course, said the different backgrounds of the participants, some of whom had no radiation protection elements included in their formal education, made for vibrant discussions.
“The different professional backgrounds and experiences of participants created a great group that will help strengthen practices in their countries with different types of resources and challenges,” she said.
At the end of the course, participants presented plans to improve radiation protection of patients and workers at their medical facilities.
“For me, it was an amazing experience. I will bring the knowledge from the resourceful and rich lectures in safety back home,” said Kamaldeen Olayori Jimoh, Consultant Radiologist at the National Hospital in Abuja, Nigeria.
