Dr A
Hospital issue
The apron on the hook. Nothing else.
Eyes
Thyroid
Torso
Legs
Career total so farrelative units
Two careers · a Rothband experience
Same lab. Same list. Thirty years.
Two interventionalists start the same week in the same cath lab and run the same cases for thirty years. One wears what the hospital handed them. One wears Rothband. Set the caseload, press play, and watch the gap open up, year by year, region by region.
- 20 mSvThe UK annual dose limit for the eye lens, cut from 150 mSv after the ICRP lowered its threshold for lens opacities in 20115
- 0.5–5%of scattered X-rays get through a 0.5 mm lead-equivalent apron front at 70 to 100 kVp3
- ×2Lead glasses roughly halved eye lens dose in clinical interventional practice4
Two careers
Press play. Watch thirty years.
Both operators stand at the access site, about 0.6 m from where the beam enters the patient, on the tube side. Everything is identical except what they wear and what hangs from the table. Change either side's kit at any time and the whole career is recalculated.
Year0of 30
Projections
The gap
Dr B's exposure as a share of Dr A's
Eyes
Thyroid
Torso
Legs
Press play to start both careers.
Dr B
Rothband kit
Wrap top and kilt, collar, glasses, table shield.
Eyes
Thyroid
Torso
Legs
Career total so farrelative units
Cumulative exposure, all regionsDr A Dr B
Year 051015202530
An indicative teaching model, not a dose calculation. Each case puts the same scatter into the room for both operators; the only differences are the transmission of what each one wears and the table shield. Factors used: apron 5% transmission at the front, thyroid collar 8%, lead glasses a factor of two, legs behind a wrap kilt 45%, table shield 20% for the legs (a judgement, the literature says "significant"), cine ten times fluoroscopy, LAO-heavy work 1.25 times PA on the operator side. Real doses are measured with dosimeters and depend on the room, the equipment and the procedure.
Why the gap opens
Four things that compound over a career.
None of these is dramatic on any single day. All of them are dramatic over thirty years of Tuesdays.
Eyes
The limit that moved
In 2011 the ICRP concluded the lens was more sensitive than previously thought and recommended a limit of 20 mSv a year, down from 150. The UK adopted it in IRR17. Lead glasses roughly halve clinical eye dose, and far more when the face is towards the patient.5,4
Thyroid
Above the apron
The gland sits exposed at the neckline of most aprons, on the side of the body that faces the patient. A 0.35 mm collar closes the gap for the whole case.3
Legs
Below the apron
With an under-table tube the scatter comes from below, towards the legs, where garments stop. Table-mounted lower body shields have been shown to significantly reduce lower extremity dose.2
Cine
Where the dose is
Acquisition runs put roughly ten times the dose rate of fluoroscopy into the patient. A minute of cine per case is worth ten minutes of fluoroscopy to everyone in the room. Slide the cine control and watch both careers jump.1
What Dr B is wearing
The Rothband career kit.
Made in Lancashire since 1911, NHS Supply Chain approved, core materials tested to IEC 61331.
Torso · 30 years of lists
TXRW Wrap Top + KXRW Wrap Kilt
Lightweight two-piece wraparound. Overlapping front panels give 0.5 mm Pb where scatter hits first; the weight is shared between shoulders and hips so it is still being worn properly in year twenty. Lightweight lead, Bilayer Earth or Bilayer Lead Free cores.
TXRW Wrap Top →
Thyroid
D-Type Thyroid Collar (TPD / TPDM)
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
Model 52 wraparound glasses
Lead-equivalent lenses with side protection. FitOver frames go over prescription glasses; Nike and Oakley frames for staff who want to actually wear them, every case, for a career.
X-ray glasses →
Legs · under the table
Lower Body Table Shield
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 →Measure it
Dosimetry
Instadose
The careers above are a model. Real careers are measured. Instadose personal dosimeters read out online so each person can see their own record build, year by year.
Dosimetry →Lead-lined walls
& lead glass
& lead glass
The whole department
Structural shielding
Lead-lined doors, partitions and viewing windows for the control area and the rooms next door. Rothband designs, supplies and installs.
Structural shielding →Which career is your team on?
Get this comparison for your own lab.
Tell us about your room and your team. A Rothband specialist will come back with garment, eyewear and shielding options for the positions people really stand in, sized for the people who stand there.
- The caseload and kit you set above are sent with your request, so we start from your picture.
- Garment style, core material and lead equivalence options aligned to your RPA's guidance.
- Sizing for the whole team, table shields for your table, and a fitting session on request.
Behind the careers
What the model is built on
The two careers are a teaching model. These are the relationships it uses, and where they come from.
Why does the torso barely differ when both wear an apron?
Because the apron is the one thing most hospitals already get right. Both operators are modelled in a 0.5 mm Pb front, which stops 95 to 99.5% of scatter at typical kV. The career gap comes from everything the apron does not cover: eyes, thyroid and legs.3 Untick Dr A's apron to see what no apron at all looks like.
Why do the legs matter so much?
Because the tube is under the table. Scatter escapes below the table towards the legs of anyone at the table side, and the legs are modelled as receiving 1.3 times the torso's scatter because they are closest to the entry point. Table shields have been shown to significantly reduce lower extremity dose.2
Are these numbers doses?
No. They are relative units: one unit is one minute of fluoroscopy at the operator position with nothing in the way, in a PA projection. Real doses depend on the room, the equipment, the procedure and the person, and are measured with personal dosimeters. Use the model to see where protection compounds, then measure.
What changed in 2011?
The ICRP concluded the eye lens was more radiosensitive than previously assumed, with a threshold for opacities around 0.5 Gy, and recommended an occupational lens limit of 20 mSv a year averaged over five years. UK law adopted the 20 mSv limit in IRR17.5
References
- International Atomic Energy Agency. Radiation protection of medical staff in interventional fluoroscopy (RPOP). iaea.org
- Radiation Protection in Interventional Radiology. Indian J Radiol Imaging. 2021 (PMC8817818). PMC
- Get Protected! Recommendations for Staff in IR. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2021 (PMC8034513). PMC
- van Rooijen BD, et al. Efficacy of radiation safety glasses in interventional radiology. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2014. springer.com
- ICRP Publication 118. ICRP Statement on Tissue Reactions and Early and Late Effects of Radiation in Normal Tissues and Organs. Ann ICRP 41(1/2), 2012. icrp.org; The Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 (IRR17), Schedule 3. legislation.gov.uk
This experience was built by Rothband (WSR Medical Solutions Ltd), a UK radiation protection manufacturer since 1911. It is general guidance and not a substitute for your local rules, risk assessment or the advice of your Radiation Protection Adviser.
Two careers · a Rothband experience
Same lab. Same list. Thirty years.
Two interventionalists start the same week in the same cath lab and run the same cases for thirty years. One wears what the hospital handed them. One wears Rothband. Set the caseload, press play, and watch the gap open up, year by year, region by region.
- 20 mSvThe UK annual dose limit for the eye lens, cut from 150 mSv after the ICRP lowered its threshold for lens opacities in 20115
- 0.5–5%of scattered X-rays get through a 0.5 mm lead-equivalent apron front at 70 to 100 kVp3
- ×2Lead glasses roughly halved eye lens dose in clinical interventional practice4
Two careers
Press play. Watch thirty years.
Both operators stand at the access site, about 0.6 m from where the beam enters the patient, on the tube side. Everything is identical except what they wear and what hangs from the table. Change either side's kit at any time and the whole career is recalculated.
Year0of 30
Projections
Dr A
Hospital issue
The apron on the hook. Nothing else.
Eyes
Thyroid
Torso
Legs
Career total so farrelative units
The gap
Dr B's exposure as a share of Dr A's
Eyes
Thyroid
Torso
Legs
Press play to start both careers.
Dr B
Rothband kit
Wrap top and kilt, collar, glasses, table shield.
Eyes
Thyroid
Torso
Legs
Career total so farrelative units
Cumulative exposure, all regionsDr A Dr B
Year 051015202530
An indicative teaching model, not a dose calculation. Each case puts the same scatter into the room for both operators; the only differences are the transmission of what each one wears and the table shield. Factors used: apron 5% transmission at the front, thyroid collar 8%, lead glasses a factor of two, legs behind a wrap kilt 45%, table shield 20% for the legs (a judgement, the literature says "significant"), cine ten times fluoroscopy, LAO-heavy work 1.25 times PA on the operator side. Real doses are measured with dosimeters and depend on the room, the equipment and the procedure.
Why the gap opens
Four things that compound over a career.
None of these is dramatic on any single day. All of them are dramatic over thirty years of Tuesdays.
Eyes
The limit that moved
In 2011 the ICRP concluded the lens was more sensitive than previously thought and recommended a limit of 20 mSv a year, down from 150. The UK adopted it in IRR17. Lead glasses roughly halve clinical eye dose, and far more when the face is towards the patient.5,4
Thyroid
Above the apron
The gland sits exposed at the neckline of most aprons, on the side of the body that faces the patient. A 0.35 mm collar closes the gap for the whole case.3
Legs
Below the apron
With an under-table tube the scatter comes from below, towards the legs, where garments stop. Table-mounted lower body shields have been shown to significantly reduce lower extremity dose.2
Cine
Where the dose is
Acquisition runs put roughly ten times the dose rate of fluoroscopy into the patient. A minute of cine per case is worth ten minutes of fluoroscopy to everyone in the room. Slide the cine control and watch both careers jump.1
What Dr B is wearing
The Rothband career kit.
Made in Lancashire since 1911, NHS Supply Chain approved, core materials tested to IEC 61331.
Torso · 30 years of lists
TXRW Wrap Top + KXRW Wrap Kilt
Lightweight two-piece wraparound. Overlapping front panels give 0.5 mm Pb where scatter hits first; the weight is shared between shoulders and hips so it is still being worn properly in year twenty. Lightweight lead, Bilayer Earth or Bilayer Lead Free cores.
TXRW Wrap Top →Thyroid
D-Type Thyroid Collar (TPD / TPDM)
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
Model 52 wraparound glasses
Lead-equivalent lenses with side protection. FitOver frames go over prescription glasses; Nike and Oakley frames for staff who want to actually wear them, every case, for a career.
X-ray glasses →Legs · under the table
Lower Body Table Shield
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 →Measure it
Dosimetry
Instadose
The careers above are a model. Real careers are measured. Instadose personal dosimeters read out online so each person can see their own record build, year by year.
Dosimetry →Lead-lined walls
& lead glass
& lead glass
The whole department
Structural shielding
Lead-lined doors, partitions and viewing windows for the control area and the rooms next door. Rothband designs, supplies and installs.
Structural shielding →Which career is your team on?
Get this comparison for your own lab.
Tell us about your room and your team. A Rothband specialist will come back with garment, eyewear and shielding options for the positions people really stand in, sized for the people who stand there.
- The caseload and kit you set above are sent with your request, so we start from your picture.
- Garment style, core material and lead equivalence options aligned to your RPA's guidance.
- Sizing for the whole team, table shields for your table, and a fitting session on request.
Behind the careers
What the model is built on
The two careers are a teaching model. These are the relationships it uses, and where they come from.
Why does the torso barely differ when both wear an apron?
Because the apron is the one thing most hospitals already get right. Both operators are modelled in a 0.5 mm Pb front, which stops 95 to 99.5% of scatter at typical kV. The career gap comes from everything the apron does not cover: eyes, thyroid and legs.3 Untick Dr A's apron to see what no apron at all looks like.
Why do the legs matter so much?
Because the tube is under the table. Scatter escapes below the table towards the legs of anyone at the table side, and the legs are modelled as receiving 1.3 times the torso's scatter because they are closest to the entry point. Table shields have been shown to significantly reduce lower extremity dose.2
Are these numbers doses?
No. They are relative units: one unit is one minute of fluoroscopy at the operator position with nothing in the way, in a PA projection. Real doses depend on the room, the equipment, the procedure and the person, and are measured with personal dosimeters. Use the model to see where protection compounds, then measure.
What changed in 2011?
The ICRP concluded the eye lens was more radiosensitive than previously assumed, with a threshold for opacities around 0.5 Gy, and recommended an occupational lens limit of 20 mSv a year averaged over five years. UK law adopted the 20 mSv limit in IRR17.5
References
- International Atomic Energy Agency. Radiation protection of medical staff in interventional fluoroscopy (RPOP). iaea.org
- Radiation Protection in Interventional Radiology. Indian J Radiol Imaging. 2021 (PMC8817818). PMC
- Get Protected! Recommendations for Staff in IR. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2021 (PMC8034513). PMC
- van Rooijen BD, et al. Efficacy of radiation safety glasses in interventional radiology. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2014. springer.com
- ICRP Publication 118. ICRP Statement on Tissue Reactions and Early and Late Effects of Radiation in Normal Tissues and Organs. Ann ICRP 41(1/2), 2012. icrp.org; The Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 (IRR17), Schedule 3. legislation.gov.uk
This experience was built by Rothband (WSR Medical Solutions Ltd), a UK radiation protection manufacturer since 1911. It is general guidance and not a substitute for your local rules, risk assessment or the advice of your Radiation Protection Adviser.
