Is the Obesity Epidemic Putting Patients’ and Physicians’ Health at Risk? In addition to the obvious negative effect on patients, obesity can also affect Interventional Cardiologists’ health, seeing as it involves increased exposure to radiation. Operators are clearly and increasingly exposed to radiation as patient body mass index (BMI) increases. Radiation exposure might be…
Incidence of Cancer in Adult patients with Congenital Heart Disease
Adults with congenital heart disease are exposed to cumulative radiation doses, from multiple catheterization procedures. Seeing as these patients are exposed since early age, the chance of stochastic effect due to radiation exposure are relatively higher than that of the elderly population. It is clear the chance of incident cancer in adults with congenital heart disease is higher…
Radioprotection: 6 essential articles to keep you updated
1) On Radiation Protection: Editorial comment by Dr. Ariel Durán I am pleased to witness the increased amount of scientific papers in high impact journals addressing topics related to radiation protection or the harmful effects of radiation on our patients and primary or secondary operators. Similarly, it is my pleasure to see that SOLACI has…
On Radiation Protection: Editorial comment by Dr. Ariel Durán
Courtesy of Dr. Ariel Durán. I am pleased to witness the increased amount of scientific papers in high impact journals addressing topics related to radiation protection or the harmful effects of radiation on our patients and primary or secondary operators. Similarly, it is my pleasure to see that SOLACI has acknowledged this growing concern by…
Protective Shield RADPAD Reduces the Radiation Dose Received by Operators in the Cath Lab
Despite technological developments, all people working at a cath lab are inevitably exposed to radiation and its effects. The radiation dose received by the operator is highly variable depending on procedure type, experience level, equipment used, patient characteristics, etc. Exposure to this scatter radiation may have deterministic effects, such as the onset of cataracts or…
Study Confirms Lead Shields Protect Cath Lab Staff from Radiation Exposure
The recent publication of several reports on risk of cataract, left sided brain tumors, subclinical atherosclerosis and chromosome damage among interventional cardiologists has raised increasing concerns about radiation exposure in the cath lab. Recognizing these risks has created a demand of these new forms of protection. Unfortunately, these have mainly been focused on the main operator,…
Important Study Detects Radiation-Induced DNA Damage in Operators After an Endovascular Procedure
In recent years, we have seen (both as witnesses and actors) an exponential increase in the number of fluoroscopically-guided cardiovascular interventions carried out by interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists, and vascular surgeons. Not long ago, most pathologies treated with these procedures were the exclusive domain of open surgery. Now, a large number of patients can be treated…
Effects of Cerebral Radiation on Interventional Cardiologists
In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the occupational hazard for interventional cardiologists who have high and unprecedented levels of ionizing radiation exposure. microRNAs are a class of short and highly conserved non-coding RNA molecules (about 22 nucleotides) that become altered (dysregulated) in many diseases. Read also: “Nearly half of interventional cardiologists may…
Nearly half of interventional cardiologists may have pre-cataract lesions
This statement is based on eye exams conducted during the last SCAI meeting (Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions), where 47% of evaluated operators had radiation related lesions in their crystalline. In time, these might turn into cataract. Studies on astronauts and Chernobyl survivors have shown a clear association between ionizing radiation and crystalline damage,…