Radiant energy – Radiation controlling means – Shields
Patent
1994-01-18
1996-08-20
Anderson, Bruce C.
Radiant energy
Radiation controlling means
Shields
2505151, 2505161, G21F 302
Patent
active
055481256
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to radiation protective gloves and in particular radiation protective gloves for surgical or medical use and processes for their manufacture.
Surgeons and other medical personnel are often involved in medical procedures such as diagnostic, detection or guidance procedures in which their hands are exposed to radiation such as X-rays. In many of these procedures the field of operation is irradiated with X-rays so that the surgeon or other personnel can carry out the procedure using a fluoroscopic viewing screen. In diagnostic procedures using X-rays a radiologist may have to hold a patient such as an infant or in the case of veterinary work an animal to restrain the movement thereof. The dose of radiation received by a patient in any of these procedures will normally be well below the non-acceptable levels. Surgical or medical personnel who frequently carry out these procedures, however, may be exposed to radiation above the acceptable dose level. It is therefore desirable that these personnel wear protective gloves during the above procedures to limit or attentuate the amount of radiation received by the hands. Radiation protective gloves containing lead or lead oxide fillers are known in the art. Lead compounds, however, are toxic materials. Furthermore, gloves containing lead compounds can mark surfaces, for example, with a black mark. In addition it has been found that gloves with sufficient wall thickness or filler content to provide good radiation protection tend to be inflexible thereby making the gloves tiresome to wear and difficult to use by the wearer when handling instruments.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,354 discloses radiation protective gloves prepared by a latex dipping in a polymeric mixture comprising a dispersion of natural rubber latex and up to 20% by volume of tungsten filler which are capable of absorbing 50 to 80% incident radiation generated at voltages of 60 to 100 kVp. With gloves having the highest tungsten loading describe, the radiation absorbing capacity at higher radiation rates is limited.
The difficulty associated with the use of natural rubber latex-filler dispersion disclosed in the process of U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,354 is that even at the relatively lower filler contents disclosed therein has to be continuously agitated by a complex arrangement of pumps to maintain the tungsten filler in suspension, As a consequence it has been found almost impossible to prepare latex rubber dispersions with tungsten filler content higher than 20% by volume to provide gloves with a higher radiation protection than that given in the hereinabove US Patent because of the extremely fast settling rate of the high specific gravity tungsten filler.
It would be desirable to have gloves with an even higher radiation absorbing capacity to limit the effects of radiation exposure on the wearers' hands,
It has now been found possible to achieve protection at higher radiation levels than with flexible gloves containing a higher tungsten filler content than 20% by volume. Such gloves can be made by relatively simple processes using a flexible polymer.
Accordingly the present invention provides a radiation protective glove for surgical or medical use comprising a layer of flexible polymer containing at least 25% by volume of particulate tungsten material and having a radiation absorbing capacity equivalent to that of at least 0.13 mm thickness of lead.
Gloves of the invention are preferably made of a flexible synthetic polymer. In another aspect, therefore, the present invention provides a radiation protective glove for surgical or medical use comprising a layer of flexible synthetic polymer containing at least 25% by volume of particulate tungsten material and having a radiation absorbing capacity equivalent to that of 0.13 mm thickness of lead.
The gloves of the invention will normally be used in situations where the wearer is exposed to X-rays generated at voltages up to 150 KVP.
The filled polymer layer of the gloves will have a radiation absorbing capacity equivalent of at least 0.
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patent: 5245195 (1993-09-01), Shah et al.
patent: 5247182 (1993-09-01), Servant et al.
Anderson Bruce C.
Smith & Nephew plc
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