Artificial Intelligence May Reduce Radiation Exposure in Fluoroscopy-Guided Endoscopy

Using a fluoroscopy system enabled with artificial intelligence (AI) during image-guided endoscopy can significantly reduce patients’ exposure to radiation and diminish the scatter effect to endoscopy personnel, according to late-breaking research presented at the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting and Postgraduate Course.

To reach this conclusion, Ji Young Bang, MD, from AdventHealth Orlando in Orlando, FL, and colleagues conducted a prospective study of 100 consecutive patients who underwent endoscopy with either a conventional fluoroscopy system (n=50) or an AI-enabled fluoroscopy system (n=50).

The study outcome measures were to compare radiation exposure to patients via dose area product (DAP) and to measure radiation scatter to endoscopy personnel via a dosimeter. 

The groups had no significant difference in demographics, body mass index, procedural type, or procedural/fluoroscopy time between the conventional and the AI-enabled fluoroscopy systems.

Radiation exposure to patients was lower with the AI-enabled fluoroscopy system compared with the conventional system (median DAP, 2178 mGy∙m2 vs 5708 mGy∙m2, respectively).

The scatter effect to endoscopy personnel was less with the AI-enabled fluoroscopy system compared with the conventional system (total deep-dose equivalent, 0.28 mSv vs 0.69 mSv, respectively), for a difference of 59.4%.

After adjusting for patient characteristics, procedural/fluoroscopy duration, and type of fluoroscopy system, only the AI-enabled fluoroscopy system and fluoroscopy duration were associated with radiation exposure.
—Colleen Murphy