In plain language
The 2013 EU Basic Safety Standards Directive lowered the occupational eye lens dose limit from 150 to 20 mSv per year and requires monitoring, pregnancy protections and optimisation of staff dose for the fluoroscopy team in interventional work.
At a glance
- Type of study
- Regulation or standard
- Who was studied
- Interventional radiologists, Radiologic technologists, Medical physicists and radiation safety officers, Other physicians, Trainees, Patients
- Where
- European Union
- Topics
- Regulation and policyEye lens and cataractsPregnancy and reproductive healthDosimetry and monitoringTraining and educationPatient dose
- Summary based on
- the full text
What it found
The occupational eye lens dose limit was lowered from 150 mSv/year to 20 mSv/year.
Key figures: 20 mSv/year (previously 150 mSv/year)
The eye lens limit may be averaged as 100 mSv over 5 years with a 50 mSv single-year maximum; the effective dose limit is 20 mSv/year.
Key figures: 100 mSv in 5 years, max 50 mSv in a single year
Workers who may exceed 15 mSv/year to the eye lens, 6 mSv effective dose or 150 mSv to skin/extremities must be classed Category A, with individual monitoring and medical surveillance.
Key figures: 6 mSv effective; 15 mSv lens; 150 mSv skin/extremities
Once a worker declares pregnancy, the dose to the unborn child must be as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) and unlikely to exceed 1 mSv for the rest of the pregnancy.
Key figures: 1 mSv
Occupational exposure from medical practices must be considered in optimisation, and a medical physics expert must be involved in interventional radiology.
Limits to keep in mind
This is a descriptive summary of a regulatory directive, not an empirical study, so it provides no data on doses or health outcomes.
Related research summaries
- AST Standards for Ionizing Radiation Exposure (Guideline or consensus statement)
- ICRP Draft - Radiological Protection in Fluoroscopically Guided Procedures (Guideline or consensus statement)
- IU Health Handbook of Fluoroscopy Safety (Guideline or consensus statement)
- Radiation Protection in Interventional Radiology (2022, Narrative review)
- Occupational Radiological Protection in Interventional Procedures, ICRP PUBLICATION 139 (2018, Guideline or consensus statement)
How this summary was made
ORSIF prepared this summary with AI assistance from the full text of the paper. A program then checked that the passage supporting each finding appears word for word in that source. A person has not yet reviewed each summary, so read the original before relying on a number. ORSIF summarizes research and does not endorse any product or company. Report a problem with this summary.
Prepared November 3, 2026.