The staff at interventional radiological procedures is exposed to high levels of ionizing radiation. This applies especially to measures at cardiac catheterization laboratories. In this study the annual radiation exposure to the staff was estimated by measuring the dose rate under characteristic conditions. It could be shown that the resulting radiation exposure was strongly dependent on the radiation protection measures and is also dependent on the operation conditions of the x-ray-tube. The effective dose for the physician wearing a lead apron and thyroid shield was determined to about 1.7 mSv/a. Without a thyroid shield an effective dose of about 3.5 mSv/a resulted. This corresponds to approximately the natural background radiation of about 2.4 mSv/a in the Federal Republic of Germany. From the number of procedures performed we could derive an effective dose of approximately 1-2 microSv per application for the physician, averaged over all types of procedures. Further, it could be shown that the readings of the film badges, usually worn by the staff, underestimate the effective dose by approximately a factor of two. This is because the film badges do not include the contribution of the unshielded parts of the body to effective dose. From the estimated annual effective dose, a lifetime dose of 68 mSv was estimated for a 40-year working career. The corresponding lifetime risk for induced fatal cancer due to radiation exposure was determined to 0.3% applying the ICRP risk factor of 4 x 10(-2) Sv-1. Considering the NCRP recommendations for a safe occupation, working in a cardiac catheterization laboratory can be considered as safe when applying all radiation protection measures. However, changing the protection measures and modifying the parameters of the x-ray-tube can lead to strong changes of the radiation exposure and the resulting risk estimation.