“The average exposure in the United States, from natural sources of radiation (mostly cosmic radiation and radon), is 300 millirems per year at sea level.”

“Physicians who had logged 21 years in the lab after fellowship reported an alarming 60% incidence of spine problems compared with 26% who were working <5 years after completing fellowship.”

“Radiation safety is of concern to catheterization laboratory personnel, yet there is significant variability in radiation protection practices, highlighting several opportunities for standardization and improvement.”

Elevating healthcare worker safety

Interventional cardiology is a uniquely rewarding, highly innovative profession. The bulk of the innovation in our field over the past 3 decades has appropriately been focused on patient care. However, the manner and circumstances with which that care has been delivered in the cath lab has changed little over time. New approaches are now available to begin to mitigate the biomechanical, orthopedic, and radiation risks of working in the cath lab.

“Background. There is great variability in radiation safety practices in cardiac catheterization laboratories around the world. Methods. We performed an international online survey on radiation safety including interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists, interventional radiologists, and vascular surgeons…”