Improving the long-term safety of a common heart procedure in young people.

Radiation doses and associated cancer risks from X-ray guided cardiac catheterizations in children and young adults

Cardiac catheterisation is a procedure where a dye or device is delivered down a flexible tube into the heart’s blood supply while being visualised by X-rays. It’s used in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of lots of different heart conditions. But it doesn’t come without risks, one being the exposure to x-ray radiation, which can raise the risk of cancer. This is a particular consideration when the procedure is used in children with heart defects. With the help of BHF funding, these researchers have established a study group of over 11,000 children and young adults who underwent cardiac catheterisations in the UK. They found that cancer rates were very high in this population. Now they want to look into this more deeply to know whether the exposure to radiation is involved or not. They will expand their study group up to 30,000 young people and work to improve their estimates of radiation exposure from catheterisation. Then they’ll look again at the rates of cancer diagnosis in this group. This study will provide more information on potential risks that can arise from a common procedure. This will help doctors, parents and patients decide whether to have the procedure or not, and help estimate the safest dose of radiation that can be used in children and young adults.