Papworth Hospital is protecting staff from exposure to X-rays using “intelligently-shaped”, lead-free, lightweight shields provided by medical equipment supplier APC Cardiovascular.
The hospital has selected the sterile, repositionable Radpad shields for use in its cardiac catheter laboratories, where they are placed directly onto the patient being treated, providing the healthcare professional with a moveable safety “shade” which protects them against scatter radiation while they safely conduct medical procedures. Already used in a growing number of UK interventional centres, the Radpad shields are available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, from general purpose to specialised shields developed for specific procedures such a biopsy, dialysis de-clotting, biventricular pacing and femoral-entry angiography. They incorporate a special composite metal shielding structure.
Derrick Ebden, managing director of APC Cardiovascular, said: “Protecting staff against radiation exposure is vital, as X-rays are known to be a human carcinogen which promote cancer of the thyroid, breast, lung and skin and can also caused burns and hair loss.
The Radpad shields dramatically reduce scatter radiation produced from working with X-ray equipment and this can prevent healthcare professionals from the long-term effect of radiation exposure or from having to retire too early.”
