ALARA+: Summit on Radiation and Orthopedic Risks in Fluoroscopic Laboratories
Occupational radiation exposure has a clear association with long-term health effects and has a particular impact on women, trainees, and supporting staff. There is a reliance on limited, traditional radiation protection and nonergonomic equipment, which carries associated orthopedic injury rates with adverse impacts on both individual career trajectories and health systems, and with significant challenges to widespread implementation of enhanced radiation protection devices. During the 2025 Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions Scientific Sessions in Washington, DC, a multidisciplinary Think Tank summit was convened and included representatives from multiple stakeholders, including other professional societies, advocacy groups, and industry partners. The focus of discussion was on the dual dangers of both ionizing radiation and the musculoskeletal injuries associated with current-generation protection equipment. This document summarizes the main points of discussion and outlines actionable next steps to advocate for more widespread implementation of enhanced radiation protection technologies and imaging systems in order to achieve ALARA+ (as low and as light as reasonably achievable).
Authors
- Summer L. Kaplan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4271-8200)
- Nick Morse
- Arash Salavitabar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9632-4725)
- Matthew Glogoza
- Lucy Safi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2918-7134)
- Chelsea Ballinger
- Amit N. Vora (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1269-9114)
- Joanna Ghobrial (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2596-1935)
- Preethi Ramchand
- Kamala P. Tamirisa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2808-3499)
- Jonathan Fang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5611-8313)
- Cheryl Schultz
- David G. Rizik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6866-1599)
- Dorothea Altschul
- Andrea Klein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1342-4083)
- Atul Gupta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7932-8521)
- James Hermiller
- Kyle Bugg
- Steven J. Kraus
- Kristi Wilson
- Emily Carpenter
- Andrew Bojanowski
- R. Jay Widmer
- Robert E. Foster
- J. Fritz Angle
- Omar Khalique
- Arnold Seto
- Anna E. Bortnick
- Robert F. Riley
- A. Kyle Jones
Institutions
- American College of Cardiology (US)
- Inova Health System (US)
- Nationwide Children's Hospital (US)
- Cleveland Clinic (US)
- Montefiore Medical Center (US)
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (US)
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (US)
- Thomas Jefferson University (US)
- Lebanon Valley College (US)
- Beaumont Health (US)
- St Vincent Hospital (US)
- Valley Hospital (US)
- Novant Health Charlotte Orthopedic Hospital (US)
- Overlake Hospital Medical Center (US)
- Novant Health (US)
- MedStar Harbor Hospital (US)
- Yale University (US)
- St. Francis Hospital (US)
- Mitochondria Research and Medicine Society (US)
- Southwestern Medical Center (US)
- Mount Sinai Hospital (US)
- St. Vincent Hospital (US)
- Bellevue Hospital Center (US)
- Banner - University Medical Center Tucson (US)
- Philips (United States) (US)
- University of Virginia Medical Center (US)
- Kidney Associates (US)
- Eastman Chemical Company (United States) (US)
- National Heart Centre Singapore (SG)
- VA Long Beach Healthcare System (US)
- Shriners Hospitals for Children Medical Center - Lexington (US)
- Southwestern Medical Center (US)
- The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Heart Rhythm
- Published
- 2026-03-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrthm.2026.02.044
- Primary Topic
- Radiation Dose and Imaging
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00