Can leaded glasses protect the eye lens in patients undergoing neck computed tomography?

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Computed tomography (CT) is one of the main sources using ionizing radiation. Considering the toxicity from this radiation, any technique that could reduce the radiosensitive organs’ doses without affecting the image diagnostic quality must be considered in routine practice. In this study, the amount of eye lens dose reduction in the presence of radioprotective glasses was evaluated in neck CT examinations. METHODS: Thirty adult patients (15 men and 15 women) with a mean age of 44.6 years undergoing neck CT examination participated in this study. For each patient, six thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs-100) were attached above the eye lens glasses surface, and another six under the glasses to assess the radioprotective effect of the glasses. The TLDs were readout and converted to Hp (3) as an indicator of eye lens dose. The obtained results from the TLD readouts as eye lens dose were compared using a paired t-test. RESULTS: The TLD measurements showed the mean±standard deviation values of 2.97±0.61 mGy and 1.04±0.16 mGy for TLDs above and under the radioprotective glasses, respectively. The radioprotective glasses significantly decreased the eye lens dose by about 64.9% (P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Due to the results, wearing radioprotective glasses for patients during neck CT scans could significantly reduce the eye lens doses. RELEVANCE FOR PATIENTS: The outcome of this research shows that leaded glasses can decrease the received dose significantly in patient during neck CT scans.