With prior research indicating that adding air gap technique (AGT) to a “as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA)” radiation protocol can reduce radiation exposure in patients weight less than 20 kg, investigators assessed the radiation dosage using their AGT with ALARA protocol in patients younger than 21 weighing 20-40 kg. With the protocol, the flat panel detector was placed 100 cm from the patient. In patients with a median age of 9 and median weight of 27.5 kg, 49 catheterizations were interventional, the median fluoro time was 11.9 minutes, the median total air Kerma product was 38 mGy, the median does area product (DAP) was 175 µGym2, and the DAP for weight was 7. The three minor complications observed were all self-limited.
