Interventional Radiology

Interventional radiology involves the use of medical imaging to see inside the body coupled with minimally invasive techniques to diagnose and treat cancer, as well as provide relief from symptoms. Our doctors use tools such as catheters and needles to address a large variety of medical conditions that would have required surgery in the past.

At AMCC, we use interventional radiology (IR) techniques to deliver cancer-killing radioactive particles, chemotherapy, heat, cold, or even electric fields directly to tumors. Imaging techniques including CT, ultrasound, PET, and MRI help guide these procedures so your doctor can pinpoint the exact area of treatment, minimizing the effect on normal surrounding tissue.

Image-guided procedures have fewer risks for our patients and allow them to recover more quickly compared with surgery. In fact, the majority of patients who have an IR procedure are able to return home the same day. Also, IR procedures don’t require incisions and often can be done with conscious sedation, which means that you don’t have to undergo general anesthesia.

The most common diseases we treat with image-guided techniques include cancers of the lung, liver, kidney, and bone. But this is a growing field, and we are exploring its use in treating a variety of other cancer types.

Why Interventional Radiology Is Used

Image-guided techniques can be used as the primary treatment to destroy tumors, to prevent bleeding during surgery, or to relieve pain caused by cancer or its treatment. Sometimes we recommend IR procedures when someone is not well enough to have surgery.

In addition, our interventional radiologists may use these techniques to diagnose cancer (by performing image-guided biopsy), to drain infections and abnormal collections of fluid in the chest and abdomen, or to place devices such as chest ports so that patients who must receive regular infusions of chemotherapy drugs can have them delivered directly into the bloodstream.

Types of Interventional Radiology Procedures

Our interventional radiologists use a variety of techniques to treat cancer. These include ablation (burning or freezing a tumor), embolization (cutting off a tumor’s blood supply or targeting it with chemotherapy or radioactivity), and irreversible electroporation (punching holes in tumors with electric currents).

Other IR techniques can relieve pain. For example, vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty, and ablation are three methods we use to help patients with spine and other bony tumors.