Radiation Risk of Catheter Ablation

X-ray fluoroscopy is universally established as the primary imaging modality to guide electrophysiology procedures. These fluoroscopy systems have advanced significantly over the last decade and low frame rate digital fluoroscopy provides low radiation exposure with high resolution imaging. Both stochas-tic and deterministic effects of radiation are rare and mostly only manifest decades after exposure, and radiation dose is sel-dom a pressing concern of the operator. Avoiding complications (usually aided by significant fluoroscopy in complex cases) is a far more immediate priority. Yet the accumulation of radia-tion exposure over time is a growing concern, particularly in the United States. The rise of musculoskeletal injuries and reports of head and neck cancer among interventional cardiologists should caution the indiscriminate use of fluoroscopy. More-over, we do not measure life time cumulative dose of medica