Interventional and radiation exposure

[gatormed]

I'm thinking of going into interventional neuroradiology but I'm a little worried about all the radiation exposure. It often involves hours a day spent under the flouroscope. Our local attending has no hair on his arms from the shoulders down. Pretty scary. I know there are a lot of aspiring interventionalists out there. What do you think?

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[Voxel]

We do not know what the cummulative effect of 30 yrs + as a interventional radiologist will bring in terms of more serious diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, and soft tissue sarcoma. I know several IR docs who have been in the game for a while. One has fibrosis, hair loss, and cataracts. He attributes all of this to the radiation exposure he received during the days when they were more cavelier about radiation exposure. So the short answer is we don't know if we will start to see cancer, but other less serious effects have been seen.

 

[gatormed]

I thought I would bump this to the top. I'm hoping to get a little more feedback.

 

[Voxel]

There have also been cases of IR docs retiring to diagnostic radiology because they have work related repetative injuries of cervical and lumbar spine. I think it had to do with the positions people would hold while wearing the heavier lead suits.

 

[jargon124]

Voxel - I'm just wondering what the pay difference is btw diagnostic and interventional radiologists. If there was justice, it would seem like docs putting themselves at risk would be paid a premium, but who knows...?

 

[Voxel]

Usually the compensation for IR is the same or slightly higher as per the AMG 2001 salary survey. Other than this survey, I do not know of any other published salary surveys of diag vs IR. Most IR docs work in a group practice with diag rads docs and as partners they usually split things fairly equally. There maybe some issue with diag rads not taking angio call and thus IR docs may be compensated more because diags rads docs do not want to take angio/IR call. Most people do IR because they love it and worry less about the radiation and occupational hazards of wearing heavy lead suits for long periods of time.