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Interventional Radiology
An Interventional Radiologist is a highly trained subspecialist who is skilled in both diagnostic imaging and in percutaneous (through the skin) therapeutic procedures. Interventional radiology has been officially recognized as a specialty since 1992 and has been called the “Surgery of the 21st Century.” Today there are approximately 4000 interventional radiologists in the United States.
UsingX-RAYs and other imaging tools to guide their procedures and “see” inside the body, the specially trained Interventional
The radiologist inserts thin tubes (catheters) and other very small instruments through tiny nicks in the skin to treat a wide variety of conditions that once required surgery.
These treatments include dilatation of narrowed blood vessels (angioplasty and stenting), opening of clotted blood vessels or bypass grafts (thrombolysis), male infertility (varicocele embolization) and female infertility (fallopian tuboplasty) procedures, central venous access and dialysis catheter placement, gastrostomy and jejunostomy feeding tube placement, and a whole array of many other similar procedures.
There are many advantages of interventional radiology:
- Many procedures can be performed on an outpatient basis.
- Virtually all procedures are performed with local anesthesia and intravenous sedation, and general anesthesia is usually not required.
- Risk, pain, and recovery time are significantly less than surgery.
- Procedures are usually less expensive than the surgical alternatives.
The Interventional Radiologists of IHS are fellowship-trained, are board-certified, and have Certificates of Added Qualifications (CAQ) in Angiography and Interventional Radiology awarded by the American Board of Radiology. These physicians are also members of the Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (SCVIR). In addition, the Interventional Radiologists of IHS are well known in the San Diego medical community for their expertise in carotid artery angioplasty/stenting.
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