12 Sep 2018
RadiologyTHE MEDICAL SPECIALTY: RADIOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONISM
Interventional Radiology (IR) is a medical specialty that performs minimally invasive treatments using radiological images to guide the procedures. IR treatments have become the main method of treatment for a wide variety of medical conditions, offering less risk, pain and less recovery time, compared to open surgery.
Interventional radiologists are board-certified, trained physicians who specialize in targeted, minimally invasive treatments. They are experts in reading X-rays, ultrasound, CT's, MRI's, and other types of medical images. They offer the most comprehensive knowledge of the least invasive treatments available, along with clinical and diagnostic expertise. They have had extensive training.
Interventional radiologists use X-rays, MRI, and other images to guide small instruments, such as catheters and wires, through blood vessels and organs to treat a variety of diseases.
Some examples of treatments performed by interventional radiologists include fibroid embolization, angioplasty, stent placement, thrombolysis, prostate embolization, radiofrequency ablation, and biopsies.
These minimally invasive treatments can cure or alleviate the symptoms of vascular diseases, prostate, uterine fibroids, pelvic congestion, obesity, varicocele or cancer.