A specialist skilled in interventional radiology will have had four years of study in diagnostic radiology. They will then take the American Board of Radiology exam to obtain certification and complete a fellowship through a radiology training program. There are roughly 4,000 interventional radiologists working in private medical centers and community hospitals in the United States. Thanks to these specialists, we have important life-saving procedures like angioplasty, stent placement, needle biopsies and gastrostomies.
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.”
Women who suffer massive bleeding from c-sections can also benefit from interventional radiology procedures. “With embolization, interventional radiologists can block life-threatening bleeding immediately and effectively—from the inside out,” explains Michael S. Stecker, M.D. from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Embolization has a number of practical uses in medicine today, as it blocks hemorrhaging by using just a catheter and x-ray imaging, rather than invasive surgery. At the site of internal bleeding, radiologists use sand-sized sponge-like particles or little metal coils to block injured blood vessels. Stecker adds, “The women we treated tended to need fewer blood transfusions, had shorter hospital stays and did not have recurrence of the bleeding.”
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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