Research summary, original research, 2014

Local diagnostic reference levels for angiographic and fluoroscopic procedures: Australian practice

Erskine BJ, Brady Z, Marshall EM. Australasian physical & engineering sciences in medicine. 2014

Read the original paper

In plain language

One Australian teaching hospital used 11,000 angiographic and fluoroscopic examinations to propose local patient-dose reference levels (75th percentile dose area product). These describe patient dose, not staff dose, though they may support dose-optimisation benchmarking.

At a glance

Type of study
Original research, Retrospective cohort study
Who was studied
Patients
Size
n = 11,000 examinations
Where
Australia
Summary based on
the abstract

What it found

  • Local diagnostic reference levels were proposed for a wide range of diagnostic and interventional angiographic and fluoroscopic procedures using data from one Australian teaching hospital.

    Key figures: 11,000 examinations over 2.5 years

  • LDRLs were set at the 75th percentile of dose area product, with median fluoroscopy times also reported; each procedure type had at least 50 cases.

    Key figures: 75th percentile dose-area product (DAP); minimum 50 cases per procedure

  • Australia lacked national diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for fluoroscopic procedures; these local levels may guide other institutions and inform the national regulator.

Limits to keep in mind

Single-centre data from one Australian public teaching hospital, so the levels may not generalise; the abstract reports patient dose metrics only, not staff dose, and gives no actual DRL values.

How this summary was made

ORSIF prepared this summary with AI assistance from the abstract 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.