Ask an Interventional Radiologist Online

Interventional radiology is a surgical specialty that uses minimally invasive image-guided techniques to diagnose and cure certain diseases. An interventional radiologist performs a range of interventional medical procedures by interpreting the images obtained, to diagnose and treat various illness.

Interventional radiologist use imaging techniques like X-rays, CT (Computed Tomography) scan, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), fluoroscopy, and ultrasound, to look inside the patient’s body and perform procedures with the help of these images. Some of the diagnostic procedures performed using interventional radiology are angiography, biopsy, and cholangiography. Few of the therapeutic procedures performed by an interventional radiologist are angioplasty, thrombolysis, aneurysm repair, artery embolization, dialysis, cholecystostomy, etc.

Interventional radiology can also be used in the treatment of cancer. It is used to inject chemotherapy and embolic agents into the tumor blood supply (chemoembolization), or to inject radioactive objects into the tumors blood supply (radioembolization), or tumor cells are destroyed by using heat (radiofrequency ablation) or cold (cryoablation).

The other uses are to place drains to remove fluid buildup in the lungs or abdomen, joint injection for arthritis, inserting central lines, drain an abscess, to place feeding and chest tubes, and to treat vascular malformations. To know more about the procedures involved in interventional radiology, you can ask questions to professionally trained interventional radiologists online.