Exposure to low-dose ionising radiation from cardiac catheterisation and risk of cancer: the COCCINELLE study cohort profile.

Purpose: The COCCINELLE study is a nationwide retrospective French cohort set up to evaluate the risk of cancer in patients who undergone cardiac catheterisation (CC) procedures for diagnosis or treatment of congenital heart disease during childhood.

Participants: Children who undergone CC procedures from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2013, before the age of 16 in one of the 15 paediatric cardiology departments which perform paediatric CC in mainland France were included. The follow-up started at the date of the first recorded CC procedure until the exit date, that is, the date of death, the date of first cancer diagnosis, the date of the 18th birthday or the 31 December 2015, whichever occurred first.