Interventional Radiology
When a closer look is needed for a particular patient, radiology is often recommended. Services may include x-rays, MRIs, CT scans and PET scans. If something is found by the imaging technology, then interventional radiology may provide a treatment alternative to surgery. In the past, doctors had to cut their patients open to see how organs, blood vessels, arteries and internal structures were doing. Today, they may be able to use tools like a laparoscope, a catheter, a needle or a stent to perform maintenance or interventionist work, without requiring the patient to stay for days in the hospital.
There are many procedures that medical professionals use to help patients in need. “Nonsurgical Uterine Fibroid Embolization is truly a major advance in women’s health,” writes Brian F. Stainken M.D., Society of Interventional Radiology President. With uterine fibroid embolization, a specialist uses a radiology MRI scan to check the status of the growth on the uterus. The procedure then involves blocking the blood vessels that deliver blood to the fibroid tumors, thus causing them to die and symptoms to subside. Radiologist Scott C. Goodwin says, “Uterine Fibroid Embolization is a safe, effective and minimally invasive option for women to consider. This is especially significant news for the more than 300,000 women who have hysterectomies performed annually in the United States to treat symptomatic uterine fibroids.”
Interventional radiology is also used in the treatment of post-thrombotic syndrome, a condition characterized by blood clots in the leg veins, skin ulcers, debilitating leg pain and swelling. PTS is a common complication of deep vein thrombosis that is developed by 25 to 50% of the patients treated with blood thinners. Interventional radiologists found that they could prevent a life-threatening pulmonary embolism and dissolve the leg clot by using catheters, clot dissolving drugs and clot removal devices in a minimally-invasive treatment. “PTS is a serious complication of DVT that is under recognized and potentially preventable if we are able to dissolve the clots early, before permanent damage to the vein occurs,” explains interventional radiologist Suresh Vedantham, M.D., who led recent trials.
Back pain is possibly the most common non-life-threatening problem for Americans, with more than 65 million suffering from chronic back pain (according to the Georgetown University report, “Challenges for the 21st Century: Chronic and Disabling Conditions.” At the Society of Interventional Radiology’s 34th Annual Scientific Meeting, researchers reported they may have a new cure — injecting oxygen/ozone into the herniated disc to reduce the disc’s volume, limiting pain and inflammation. Compared to a diskectomy, the recovery time is much shorter.
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