Can cardiac catheterization be performed on a pregnant patient?
Yes. There will be many situations where the benefit of performing the procedure is much greater than any small possible harm that might arise from the radiation exposure. However, as always with any medical exposure, each particular procedure must be clinically justified, including in this situation taking into account when the procedure needs to occur and the anticipated radiation dose to the foetus. Once justified, due care is taken to optimise how the procedure is performed so as to minimise radiation exposure to the foetus, consistent with achieving the desired clinical outcome. The radiation exposure to foetus predominantly arises from scattered radiation within the patient. Some of the main methods for minimising the dose to the foetus include: restricting the X-ray beam size to being as small as is necessary for the clinical purpose; choosing the direction of the primary beam so that it is as far away from the foetus as possible; selecting appropriate exposure factors; and ensu
