CINCINNATI (September 10, 2025) – The final episode of the Emmy-winning docuseries Scattered Denial: The Occupational Dangers of Radiation was just released and Dean Kereiakes, MD, FACC, MSCAI — Chairman of The Christ Hospital Heart & Vascular Institute, is featured as a leading voice. You can find the episode here.
This groundbreaking six-part series exposes the underrecognized risks faced by cardiovascular interventionalists and their teams who, while saving lives in the Cath Lab, often put their own health on the line due to prolonged radiation exposure. In early 2024, after more than four decades of performing surgeries, Dr. Kereiakes started to feel severe back pain and was unable to use his arms while also losing function in his right leg.
“There was a real concern that I would become a quadriplegic due to years of wearing heavy lead vests while performing surgery in the Cath Lab,” said Dr. Kereiakes. “It was clear, that following decades of wearing those lead safety vests, that I would need spine surgery myself.”
Dr. Kereiakes says aprons used to protect against harmful radiation previously weighed more than 30 pounds and could be worn for 8 to 10 hours at a time, depending on the number and lengths of the procedures.
"If you're an interventional cardiologist for 20 years your chance of having a significant spine injury is about 60 percent. It just literally crushes your spine. You see your whole professional life and worse your personal life neglected because of your work life imbalance. It’s an amazing overwhelming stark realization.”
Having gone what he went through, Dr. Kereiakes was invited to tell his story and became an advocate for lead-free radiation protection systems to protect other interventional cardiologists and lower their risk for long-term spine surgeries as well as cataracts and multiple types of cancers.
“To bring awareness on this issue that so many interventional cardiologists face, I decided to take part in the docuseries to get the word out on these new inventions to help physicians and staff who work in the cath lab “stay in the game” longer. These occupational hazards have been part of the job for decades. Now we can do something about this and I’m huge supporter of the new technology.”
Timothy Henry, MD, FACC, MSCAI, Medical Director of The Carl and Edyth Lindner Center for Research and Education at The Christ Hospital Health Network was also interviewed for the docuseries. Seeing one of his colleagues and friend go through this battle, was eye-opening.
“Dean is a remarkable man,” said Dr. Henry in the docuseries. “He’s been my friend for a long time. When Dean had his event, and obviously it was catastrophic, I think it sent shockwaves throughout the whole interventional cardiology community. When you watch a very close friend of yours go through something like Dean did, it has a powerful impact. You realize that could be you.”
Because of his experience, Dr. Kereiakes now is a proponent of lead-free protection systems that shield the source of the radiation rather than the people working in the lab. The Christ Hospital is in the midst of being the first system in the area to fit 12-Cath Labs with this new protection.
For more information and all episodes on the Emmy-winning docuseries Scattered Denial, click here.
About The Christ Hospital Health Network
The Christ Hospital Health Network consists of an acute care hospital located in Mt. Auburn, a remote hospital location in Liberty Township, five ambulatory outpatient centers and dozens of medical offices throughout the region. For more than 135 years, The Christ Hospital has provided compassionate care to those it serves. Made up of more than 1,300 physicians and 7,200 team members, our mission is to improve the health of our community by providing exceptional outcomes in an affordable way. The Network was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the #1 hospital in the Cincinnati Region and named to Newsweek’s World’s Best Hospitals list in 2025.