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Radiation Exposure During Fluoroarthroscopically Assisted Anterior Cruciate Reconstruction

Western Surgery Center, Logan, Utah

Julie Egbert, RT R

Western Surgery Center, Logan, Utah

E. Marlowe Goble, MD

Western Surgery Center, Logan, Utah

We prospectively evaluated the radiation exposure dur ing 50 consecutive fluoroscopically assisted anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions. Three different meth ods of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction were performed using either rolled fascia lata allograft or bone-tendon-bone autograft. For the 50 procedures, to tal time using the fluoroscope was 119.61 minutes, or 2.38 minutes per procedure. The 16 primary fascia lata allograft reconstructions averaged 1.38 minutes of fluo roscope use per procedure compared with 4.69 minutes for the two revision allograft fascia lata surgeries, 3.14 minutes per procedure for the 30 primary bone-tendon- bone reconstructions, and 4.18 minutes per procedure for the two surgeries performed with an allograft me niscal transplant. The difference in exposure time be tween the 16 primary allograft fascia lata surgeries and the 30 primary allograft or autograft bone-tendon-bone surgeries was statistically significant. The average ra diation exposure to the surgeon was 0.67 mrem per minute of fluoroscope use. It would take 7463.08 min utes of fluoroscope time, or 11,139 primary fascia lata allograft reconstructions, to exceed the recommended occupational exposure limit of 5000 mrem per year. It appears that the orthopaedic surgeon receives minimal radiation when using the fluoroscope to assist in ante rior cruciate ligament reconstruction, especially when doing a primary fascia lata allograft procedure.