What is interventional radiology?
It is a specialty of radiology in which radiologists diagnose and/or treat diseases without surgery, by guiding tiny catheters through your body’s arteries and organs. This allows the radiologist to place medications directly at the organ site, open blocked blood vessels, drain an obstructed kidney, obtain biopsies, and perform many other procedures – using x-rays and other radiographic equipment for guidance.
Interventional radiologists (IRs) use their expertise in reading X-rays, ultrasound and other medical images to guide small instruments such as catheters (tubes that measure just a few millimeters in diameter) through the blood vessels or other pathways to treat disease percutaneously (through the skin). These procedures are typically much less invasive and much less costly than traditional surgery.
Interventional radiologists are involved in the treatment of the patient, as well as the diagnosis of disease. They treat an ever-widening range of conditions inside the body from outside the body by inserting various small instruments or tools, such as catheters or wires, with the use of various x-ray and imaging techniques (i.e., CT scanners, MRI scanners, ultrasound scanners). Interventional radiology offers an alternative to the surgical treatment of many conditions and can eliminate the need for hospitalization, in some cases. Who is the interventional radiologist? The interventional radiologist is a medical doctor who has completed four years of study in radiology. The interventional radiologist is then eligible to take the board examination given by the American Board of Radiology. Following board certification, the interventional radiologist completes an interventional radiology fellowship training program. Today, there are about 4,000 interventional radiologists in the US, mai
Technological advances to see inside the body Overview of conditions that can be treated with IR SIR-Spheres treatment for liver cancer Radio frequency ablation for tumors Part Two: Uterine fibroids – what are they? Uterine fibroid symptoms Uterine fibroid embolization Treating pelvic pain Guest: Dr. Howard Richard, an interventional radiologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Richard is also an assistant professor of diagnostic radiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Links: Uterine Fibroid Embolism and Interventional Radiology (Part 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcvJvdS8reU Uterine Fibroid Embolism and Interventional Radiology (Part 2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjiOdurr5yc Dr. Howard Richard http://www.umm.edu/doctors/howard_m_richard%2C%20iii.
This encompasses any procedure that is invasive, usually involving the insertion of a needle, cannula (tube), catheter, or wire into the patient for diagnosis and /or treatment. Procedures include angioplasty (insertion of a balloon into a vein or artery to widen it and improve circulation), stenting (insertion of a tube to keep an artery or a vein open) and biopsies e.g. lung, breast, renal, liver, bone etc.
