Christian Spaulding

The eye is well known to be sensitive to clearly high doses (>2 Gy) of ionizing radiation. In recent years, however, cataracts have been observed in populations exposed to lower doses. Interventional cardiologists are repeatedly and acutely exposed to scattered ionizing radiation (X-rays) during the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures they perform. These "low" exposures may cause damage to the lens of the eye and induce early cataracts, known as radiation-induced cataracts. The O'CLOC study (Occupational Cataracts and Lens Opacities in interventional Cardiology) was designed to test the hypothesis that interventional cardiologists, compared with an unexposed reference group of non-interventional cardiologists, have an increased risk of cataracts.

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a severe coronary condition with potentially fatal consequences. Currently, the standard of care is to perform thromboaspiration followed by stent implantation as part of percutaneous coronary intervention. However, due to the thrombus load and vasoconstriction of the artery during the procedure, there is a tendency to underestimate vessel size, resulting in selection of a stent that will be smaller than the artery after clot resolution and vasodilation. This potentially increases the risk of stent malapposition and subsequent stent thrombosis. A novel self-expandable stent was recently developed; preliminary results from the APPOSITION I study demonstrate its feasibility in the treatment of AMI and its ability to follow the enlargement of the artery with near perfect apposition. This self-expandable stent may therefore become an important tool in the treatment of AMI.