Transvenous lead extraction and the shape of risk

A fat-tailed distribution describes a statistical pattern in which extreme events occur more often than traditional models predict. Rather than clustering comfortably around an average, the distribution contains a higher-than-expected number of rare but devastating occurrences. This concept is widely applied in finance, economics, and risk analysis to highlight situations where severe outliers define the true danger rather than routine outcomes. Scholars such as Nassim Nicholas Taleb have popularized this framework through his work on uncertainty, describing these low-frequency, high-impact events as “Black Swans” and emphasizing that such systems require a fundamentally different approach to safety and preparedness.