The cath lab scatter experience · UK
An interactive cath lab. Change the projection, switch from fluoroscopy to cine, click on each member of the team to see where scatter reaches them, then equip them with Rothband protection and watch the numbers fall.
Interactive cath lab
The heat map shows relative scatter around the patient for the current projection and mode. Click a person to see what reaches their eyes, thyroid, torso and legs, then switch on their kit. Get every member of the team into the green and the score turns green too.
Select a team member
Five people work around this patient. Each one stands somewhere different, so each one gets a different dose, and a different part of the body takes most of it.
The index is an indicative model built from published relationships (inverse square distance, tube-side scatter, cine versus fluoroscopy, typical attenuation of protective garments and shields). It is not a dosimetry measurement and not a substitute for a risk assessment with your Radiation Protection Adviser. Real doses depend on the room, the equipment, the procedure and the person.
Simulates a typical case: mostly fluoroscopy with short cine runs, current projection. Grey is the team's exposure with no protection at all; blue is with whatever kit they are wearing right now. Units are relative, not mSv.
What the model is built on
The experience above is a teaching model. These are the relationships it is built from, and where they come from.
Scatter falls with the square of the distance from the patient. Step from half a metre to one metre and the dose rate drops to a quarter. The assistant standing a step further back gets a fraction of the operator's dose.2
Scatter is most intense on the side the beam enters the patient. Only around 1 to 5% of the beam comes out the exit side. With an under-table tube, that is why the legs take so much, and why steep LAO projections push scatter towards the operator.1
Acquisition runs put roughly ten times the dose rate of fluoroscopy into the patient, so the scatter reaching the team jumps the same way. Step back during cine runs.1
At 70 to 100 kVp, roughly 0.5 to 5% of scattered X-rays get through 0.5 mm lead equivalence, which is what a wraparound 0.25 mm garment gives at the front where it overlaps. Lead glasses roughly halve eye lens dose in everyday practice and do far better when the face is towards the patient.3,4
The Rothband cath lab kit
Made in Lancashire since 1911, NHS Supply Chain approved, core materials tested to IEC 61331.
Torso · everyone at the table
Lightweight two-piece wraparound top. Overlapping front panels give double protection where scatter hits first; weight is shared between shoulders and hips for long lists. Lightweight lead, Bilayer Earth or Bilayer Lead Free cores.
TXRW Wrap Top →
Pelvis and upper legs
The second half of the two-piece set. Wraparound kilt protecting the pelvis and upper legs, where under-table scatter arrives first for anyone standing at the table side.
KXRW Wrap Kilt →
Alternative garment
One-piece tabard with one- or two-shoulder clip options for staff who prefer a single garment, or for shorter cases.
PXR SC →
Thyroid
0.35 mm Pb lightweight lead collar covering the gland that sits exposed at the neckline of most aprons. Velcro or magnetic closure.
Thyroid collars →
Eyes · 20 mSv annual lens limit
Lead-equivalent lenses with side protection for the people closest to the patient. FitOver frames go over prescription glasses; Nike and Oakley frames for staff who want to actually wear them.
X-ray glasses →
Legs · table side
Overlapping lead panels that hang from the table rail and fold down for access. Six lengths from 78 to 162 cm, plus a multi-use shield and under-couch frame.
Table-mounted shields →
Anaesthetist · second operator
Wheeled lead barrier with a window adjustable from 115 to 188 cm, so the person behind it can see the patient and the monitors without standing in the scatter.
Mobile barrier →Control room · the whole department
Lead-lined doors, partitions and viewing windows for the control area and the rooms next door. Rothband designs, supplies and installs.
Structural shielding →Dosimetry
The model above is indicative. Real doses per person are measured, and Instadose personal dosimeters read out online so the team can see them.
Dosimetry →Cath lab protection review
Tell us about your lab and your team. A Rothband specialist will come back to you with garment, eyewear and shielding options for the positions people really stand in.
Guidance
Direct answers with the research behind them. Where a decision belongs with your Radiation Protection Adviser, we say so.
Whoever stands closest to the patient on the tube side, for the longest. Usually the primary operator at the femoral or radial access site, then the assistant, then scrub staff. The anaesthetist at the head end is further from the beam but often unshielded, and the radiographer behind the lead glass gets almost nothing. Distance and position matter as much as what you wear.2
Because the tube is under the table, and the apron stops at the knee. Scatter from the beam entry side escapes below the table towards the legs of anyone at the table side. Table-mounted lower body shields have been shown to significantly reduce lower extremity dose to the operator.2
Wraparound 0.25 mm Pb garments are the common recommendation, giving 0.5 mm where the front panels overlap. At 70 to 100 kVp, roughly 0.5 to 5% of scatter gets through 0.5 mm. Two-piece sets share the weight between shoulders and hips for long cases.3
The lead equivalence for your room should be settled with your RPA; Rothband supplies certified attenuation data for every garment.
Yes, and how well depends on where you look. In clinical practice lead glasses roughly halved eye lens dose; on a phantom facing the patient the reduction was eight to tenfold. Turning the head away from the patient opens the side, which is why wraparound frames and side shields matter. The UK annual eye lens limit is 20 mSv.4
Yes. In a left anterior oblique projection the tube swings towards the patient's right, which is where the operator usually stands. Scatter is most intense on the beam entry side, so the operator's dose rises in LAO and falls in RAO. Steep cranial angulations raise patient entrance dose, and the scatter, further still.1
No. It is a teaching model built from published relationships: inverse square distance, tube-side scatter, cine versus fluoroscopy, and typical attenuation of garments and shields. Real doses are measured with personal dosimeters and depend on the room, the equipment and the procedure. Use it to understand where protection matters, then measure.
These answers are general guidance written by Rothband (WSR Medical Solutions Ltd), a UK radiation protection manufacturer since 1911. They are not a substitute for your local rules, risk assessment or the advice of your Radiation Protection Adviser.
The cath lab scatter experience · UK
An interactive cath lab. Change the projection, switch from fluoroscopy to cine, click on each member of the team to see where scatter reaches them, then equip them with Rothband protection and watch the numbers fall.
Interactive cath lab
The heat map shows relative scatter around the patient for the current projection and mode. Click a person to see what reaches their eyes, thyroid, torso and legs, then switch on their kit. Get every member of the team into the green and the score turns green too.
Select a team member
Five people work around this patient. Each one stands somewhere different, so each one gets a different dose, and a different part of the body takes most of it.
The index is an indicative model built from published relationships (inverse square distance, tube-side scatter, cine versus fluoroscopy, typical attenuation of protective garments and shields). It is not a dosimetry measurement and not a substitute for a risk assessment with your Radiation Protection Adviser. Real doses depend on the room, the equipment, the procedure and the person.
Simulates a typical case: mostly fluoroscopy with short cine runs, current projection. Grey is the team's exposure with no protection at all; blue is with whatever kit they are wearing right now. Units are relative, not mSv.
What the model is built on
The experience above is a teaching model. These are the relationships it is built from, and where they come from.
Scatter falls with the square of the distance from the patient. Step from half a metre to one metre and the dose rate drops to a quarter. The assistant standing a step further back gets a fraction of the operator's dose.2
Scatter is most intense on the side the beam enters the patient. Only around 1 to 5% of the beam comes out the exit side. With an under-table tube, that is why the legs take so much, and why steep LAO projections push scatter towards the operator.1
Acquisition runs put roughly ten times the dose rate of fluoroscopy into the patient, so the scatter reaching the team jumps the same way. Step back during cine runs.1
At 70 to 100 kVp, roughly 0.5 to 5% of scattered X-rays get through 0.5 mm lead equivalence, which is what a wraparound 0.25 mm garment gives at the front where it overlaps. Lead glasses roughly halve eye lens dose in everyday practice and do far better when the face is towards the patient.3,4
The Rothband cath lab kit
Made in Lancashire since 1911, NHS Supply Chain approved, core materials tested to IEC 61331.
Torso · everyone at the table
Lightweight two-piece wraparound top. Overlapping front panels give double protection where scatter hits first; weight is shared between shoulders and hips for long lists. Lightweight lead, Bilayer Earth or Bilayer Lead Free cores.
TXRW Wrap Top →Pelvis and upper legs
The second half of the two-piece set. Wraparound kilt protecting the pelvis and upper legs, where under-table scatter arrives first for anyone standing at the table side.
KXRW Wrap Kilt →Alternative garment
One-piece tabard with one- or two-shoulder clip options for staff who prefer a single garment, or for shorter cases.
PXR SC →Thyroid
0.35 mm Pb lightweight lead collar covering the gland that sits exposed at the neckline of most aprons. Velcro or magnetic closure.
Thyroid collars →Eyes · 20 mSv annual lens limit
Lead-equivalent lenses with side protection for the people closest to the patient. FitOver frames go over prescription glasses; Nike and Oakley frames for staff who want to actually wear them.
X-ray glasses →Legs · table side
Overlapping lead panels that hang from the table rail and fold down for access. Six lengths from 78 to 162 cm, plus a multi-use shield and under-couch frame.
Table-mounted shields →Anaesthetist · second operator
Wheeled lead barrier with a window adjustable from 115 to 188 cm, so the person behind it can see the patient and the monitors without standing in the scatter.
Mobile barrier →Control room · the whole department
Lead-lined doors, partitions and viewing windows for the control area and the rooms next door. Rothband designs, supplies and installs.
Structural shielding →Dosimetry
The model above is indicative. Real doses per person are measured, and Instadose personal dosimeters read out online so the team can see them.
Dosimetry →Cath lab protection review
Tell us about your lab and your team. A Rothband specialist will come back to you with garment, eyewear and shielding options for the positions people really stand in.
Guidance
Direct answers with the research behind them. Where a decision belongs with your Radiation Protection Adviser, we say so.
Whoever stands closest to the patient on the tube side, for the longest. Usually the primary operator at the femoral or radial access site, then the assistant, then scrub staff. The anaesthetist at the head end is further from the beam but often unshielded, and the radiographer behind the lead glass gets almost nothing. Distance and position matter as much as what you wear.2
Because the tube is under the table, and the apron stops at the knee. Scatter from the beam entry side escapes below the table towards the legs of anyone at the table side. Table-mounted lower body shields have been shown to significantly reduce lower extremity dose to the operator.2
Wraparound 0.25 mm Pb garments are the common recommendation, giving 0.5 mm where the front panels overlap. At 70 to 100 kVp, roughly 0.5 to 5% of scatter gets through 0.5 mm. Two-piece sets share the weight between shoulders and hips for long cases.3
The lead equivalence for your room should be settled with your RPA; Rothband supplies certified attenuation data for every garment.
Yes, and how well depends on where you look. In clinical practice lead glasses roughly halved eye lens dose; on a phantom facing the patient the reduction was eight to tenfold. Turning the head away from the patient opens the side, which is why wraparound frames and side shields matter. The UK annual eye lens limit is 20 mSv.4
Yes. In a left anterior oblique projection the tube swings towards the patient's right, which is where the operator usually stands. Scatter is most intense on the beam entry side, so the operator's dose rises in LAO and falls in RAO. Steep cranial angulations raise patient entrance dose, and the scatter, further still.1
No. It is a teaching model built from published relationships: inverse square distance, tube-side scatter, cine versus fluoroscopy, and typical attenuation of garments and shields. Real doses are measured with personal dosimeters and depend on the room, the equipment and the procedure. Use it to understand where protection matters, then measure.
These answers are general guidance written by Rothband (WSR Medical Solutions Ltd), a UK radiation protection manufacturer since 1911. They are not a substitute for your local rules, risk assessment or the advice of your Radiation Protection Adviser.
