Interventional Cardiologists Suffer an Excessive Incidence of Spinal Disc Disease

Back and neck pain are common complaints and frequent reasons for workdays lost amongst interventional cardiologists (Card) but neither an increased frequency of spinal skeletal problems within this specialty nor its presumed relationship to radiation shielding lead aprons has been previously verified. We mailed surveys to 875 interventional cardiologists (who performed an average of 12.1 ± 7.4 procedures per week) and for comparison, mailed 595 surveys to orthopods (who spend long hours standing, but without wearing lead) and 990 rheumatologists (with neither “risk factor”). Since the dat on the latter 2 groups did not differ, they are combined as “controls.” The overall survey response was 30%. Interestingly, we found predominance of cervical and not low back complaints by interventionalists, although combined upper and lower spine complaints (multiple levels) were more common in the cardiology group. Conclusion: Long hours spent performing procedures while wearing radiation-shielding lead aprons (which are purported to produce >300 pounds per square inch of intervertebral disc pressure), induces distinct occupational hazard, “interventional cardiologistʹs disc disease”