Radiation Exposure is Incresead Through the Last Ten Years

BACKGROUND: Since the first percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) numerous efforts have been made to reduce the exposure time to radiation and protect the operator against the radiation damage. Our purpose is to compare two periods of time and determine if the exposure time has changed over the years. METHODS: We collected all myocardial infarction (MI) procedures entered into the Cath/PCI Registry from 2006 to 2011. Our population was divided in two groups according to years of PCI (2006-2008) and (2009-2011). We used interrupted time series analysis to compare mean time of exposure between the groups. The results were adjusted according to the complications in cath lab using linear regression. Complications included tamponade, vessel dissection and bleeding at the entry site during the procedure. RESULTS: 1403 consecutive percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were recorded. Among the complication we had 0.1% vessel dissection; 0.6% bleeding in the entry site, and 0.1% tamponade. The mean time of fluoro exposure was 11 minutes ± 7.1 (SD) in the first group and 14 minutes ± 8.5 in the second group. The results of the linear regression showed that the p value for the comparison between the means was highly significant (=0.000) Figure CONCLUSION: In the era of new technologies and emphasis on prevention, fluoro exposure for the operators has increased through the years. This finding suggests that efforts should be made to identify the reasons and establish the best approaches to avoid unnecessary exposure.