Patients Radiation Exposure in Percutaneous Transhepatic Biliary Drainage (PTBD) Procedures

Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) procedures are associated with an elevated radiation exposure for the patient. In the recently published guideline of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection in Germany diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for dose area products (DAP) are not defined for PTBD procedures due to insufficient data. The aim of this retrospective study is to give a nation-wide survey on patients radiation exposure in different PTBD procedures considering factors that may have an impact on increased radiation exposure like fluoroscopic-guided versus ultrasound-guided bile duct puncture.