What is an Interventional Radiologist?
The field of Interventional radiology began in 1964 with Dr. Charles Dotter who, at that time, successfully opened a clogged vessel in the leg of an 84 year old women and successfully eliminating her debilitating leg pain utilizing a minimally invasive, nonsurgical technique.
Today’s Interventionalists are highly trained sub specialty medical doctors who, after completing the same basic medial training as your surgeon or family doctor, go on to complete a 5 year residency in Diagnostic Radiology with and additional 1-2 year subspecialty training in Interventional Radiology.
The basic premise of Interventional Radiology is to use medical imaging to perform minimally invasive procedures that previously required open, often painful surgeries with associated prolonged convalescence.
The workhorse of Interventional radiology is general fluoroscopy or real time radiolography. Flouroscopy is used to guide small catheter into the vessels of the body to open clogged vessels, remove clots or treat extensive bleeding from entities such as fibroids or trauma. In addition, we use ultrasound guidance to treat painful varicosities, perform image guided biopsies and drainage of abnormal fluid collections. CT guidance is used to perform minimally invasive biopsies of the deep tissue of the body that previously required open surgical resections and prolonged hospital stays. In fact, most of our procedures can be performed on an outpatient basis facilitating quick diagnosis, early treatment and almost immediate return to a normal lifestyle.