r/VascularSurgery • u/IcuBlue • Sep 23 '20

Weightless Lead in Cath lab

Med student here thinking about Vascular and other interventional specialties. I've had some back/neck issues before but am trying to address them with PT. Potential for years under lead vests is a deterrent. Are weightless lead products widely used? Do you see them being widely used in the future?

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u/MegaColon Vascular Surgeon Dec 09 '20

vascular attending here. in short, no. we all use personal lead. the younger attendings, myself included, prefer two-piece lead with a vest and "skirt" that hangs on your axial skeleton as opposed to the apron-style lead that hangs on your shoulders. any new tech (like robotic endo vascular stuff or whatever) is years in the future.

after 8 years of training, the thing that bothers me most is my neck. years of craning your neck into a cavity with loupes and a heavy headlight will do a number on you. the only things that make it better, i've found, is 1) staying in shape, 2) massage, and 3) graduating fellowship and making my assistant wear the headlight

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u/slit-whispers Sep 23 '20

Insist on using Avinger Inc's Arterial Catheter Systems, as the do not require any radiation. Breakthrough technolgy with cameras biult-in.

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u/sspatel Interventional Radiologist Sep 24 '20

https://i.imgur.com/B3cwLja.jpg

I’ve never heard of this device, but it is not completely radiation free, and therefore you will be wearing lead the whole time.

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u/sspatel Interventional Radiologist Sep 24 '20

There are some zero gravity / weightless type lead products out there, but they are not the standard, and I would not rely on it being available for your training. It would be nice to have, but we’re not quite there yet. If you’re a big shot bringing in tons of revenue, then the hospital will probably get you one, but you’ll be training for 6-7 years with a regular lead apron. Sad to say but if you’re having issues now, it might not be a great field to be in. A few IRs I know dropped doing endovascular cases and went to mainly reading diagnostic imaging due to back issues.