Follow-up of children exposed to ionising radiation from cardiac catheterisation: the Coccinelle study.

Cardiac catheterisation has become an essential tool in the diagnosis and treatment of children with a wide variety of congenital and acquired forms of cardiovascular disease. Despite the clear clinical benefit to the patient, radiation exposure from paediatric cardiac catheterisation procedures (CCPs) may be substantial. Given children's greater sensitivity to radiation and the longer life span during which radiation health effects can develop, an epidemiological cohort study, named Coccinelle or 'Ladybird' (French acronym for 'Cohorte sur le risque de cancer après cardiologie interventionnelle pédiatrique'), is carried out in France to evaluate the risks of leukaemia and solid cancers in this population. A total number of 8000 included children are expected. Individual CCP-related doses will be assessed for each child included in the cohort. For each CCP performed, dosimetric parameters (dose-area product, fluoroscopy time and total number of cine frames) are retrieved retrospectively. Organ doses, especially to the lung, the oesophagus and the thyroid, are calculated with PCXMC software. The cohort will be followed up through linkage with French paediatric cancer registries.