Dr. Ted Diethrich is known for being one of the world's leaders in cardiovascular surgery and founder of the Arizona Heart Institute. He always focused on his patients, but didn't take into consideration the danger he was putting himself in. Often, the impact of radiation exposure doesn't become apparent until it's too late. Dr. Diethrich had been exposed to radiation throughout his career, and now unfortunately is an example of how harmful radiation exposure can be. Please take a moment to hear his story and share it with others that work in a cath lab.

In a recent article published by Hospital Impact, Anne Beekman, Cath Lab Manager at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI, examines how the safety of physicians is often being overlooked when hospitals look to purchase new equipment in the catheterization lab. Citing findings from recent studies on the serious occupational health hazards in interventional cardiology, she provides eye-opening statistics that show the dangers physicians face when their safety isn't a factor in the equipment decision. As a pioneer in radiation safety, Spectrum has leveraged technologies such as CorPath and others to reduce radiation exposure for the physicians and staff in their lab.

"Subclinical Carotid Atherosclerosis and Early Vascular Aging from Long-Term Dose Ionizing Radiation Exposure," a case control study of cath lab staff was published in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The study found that cath lab staff with long-term exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation had increased carotid intima-media thickness and shorter leukocyte telomere length relative to a control group. This is potentially indicative of vascular aging and atherosclerosis and was observed despite the average age in the exposed group of 45 years and the control group of 44 years. This study underscores the need for increased protection for physicians and staff when performing interventional procedures to reduce the risk of accelerated vascular aging along with other potential risks related to radiation exposure.

Earlier this month, Corindus attended the SCAI 2015 Annual Scientific Sessions in San Diego, CA. Our booth featured live hands on demonstrations of the CorPath System with an advanced simulator. In addition to the expo hall, we were able to attend a unique event hosted at UC San Diego which featured presentations by noted physicians and a tour of the hospital's cath labs. We also held our second user meeting which was well attended by CorPath users from across the country. The meeting was an opportunity for users to discuss the interesting and complex cases they have been performing and best practices for using CorPath in these more complex situations.