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7 C-Arm Safety Do's and Don'ts
• Keep your hands out of the path of the X-ray beam.
• Don’t remove a C-arm’s collimators.
• Place the image intensifier underneath the patient — as close to the intended imaging site as possible.
• Stand near the image receptor during imaging procedures.
• Activate C-arms only when you’re looking at the X-ray monitor.
• Wear proper protection, including lead aprons and thyroid collars, and 2 radiation badges — one under the lead apron between the waist and chest, the other on top of the apron at the left side of the collar.
• Keep doors closed during imaging procedures.
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1 Focus on basic precautions
Healthcare professionals who work imaging procedures should understand the principles of administering doses As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA). But that C-arm safety mantra may not be enough to protect patients and staff from harm.
Keep your hands out of the Xray beam unless there’s a compelling medical reason to do otherwise. Procedural convenience is not a compelling reason, regardless of what your surgeons might claim. Sounds obvious, but naïve or careless physicians continually ignore this straightforward advice. In fact, it’s the most common mistake I see during imaging cases.
Some physicians remove the C-arm’s X-ray tube spacer in order to simplify rotation of the machine. Dose rates under these conditions can be several 10s of rads per minute with standard C-arm fluoroscopes and are also heightened with mini C-arms. The spacers are on the units to protect patients from excessive skin doses. Don’t remove them!
2 Assume proper positions
The amount of radiation surgical teams and patients are exposed to during procedures depends on the position of the C-arm. Place the X-ray tube
