Occupational Hazards to the Joint Replacement Surgeon: Radiation Exposure

Intraoperative fluoroscopy is an essential tool to assist orthopedic surgeons in accurately and safely implanting hardware. In arthroplasty cases, its use is on the rise with the increasing popularity of the direct anterior (DA) approach for THA. However, exposure of ionizing radiation poses a potential health risk to surgeons. While the benefits of intraoperative fluoroscopy in DA THA is becoming clearer, and are well-described in the literature, the potential health dangers associated with career-long cumulative radiation exposure are rarely discussed.

In this article, we review the available literature to discuss radiation safety in orthopedics with a focus on total joint arthroplasty. We present the basic science of radiation, discuss the amount of radiation exposure in orthopedic surgery, and review the potential health risks associated with long-term exposure.

Overall, the radiation dose exposure to arthroplasty surgeons is low and within recommendations for occupation exposure limits. However, due to the stochastic health impacts of ionizing radiation, there is no threshold dose below which radiation exposure is truly safe. Therefore, it is imperative that surgeons practice proper fluoroscopy safety habits, such as wearing proper protective equipment, minimizing fluoroscopy time and magnification, and maximizing distance from the radiation source to minimize the life-long cumulative radiation exposure and associated health risks.