Most people can name the main activities of a pediatrician or an OB/GYN, but it is far more infrequent that people outside of the medical sector talk about “going to the interventional radiologist.” Health-conscious individuals may have noticed that interventional radiology (IR) has been in the news with increasing frequency lately, but many remain in the dark about the focus of the specialty. So what exactly do IRs do, and why are they suddenly getting so much attention from the media?
The answer has a few components, starting with the history of this emergent field. According to the Society of Interventional Radiology’s informational web sites, the imaging technology boom of the 1970s was instrumental in helping IR grow from a list of acutely practiced (and highly experimental) procedures to a robust specialty in its own right.
Though there had been prior experimentation with minimally invasive techniques, it was in the 1970s that simple laparoscopy devices – telescope-like medical tools that can be inserted into the body through a small incision, rather than a large one – began to take the place of open surgical exploration. With each passing year, technology increased, and along with it, doctors’ capability to see – and navigate – inside the body without cutting it open.
The growth of imaging and exploration technology continued, expanding to include instruments with multiple functions, such as a laparoscope which can both transmit a picture of an internal structure and cut or suck away unwanted tissue other material in the body. Other imaging
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technology improved as well, so that CT scans, MRIs, and ultrasounds were all increasingly popular methods of finding out what was going on inside of the body. There were also smaller, more effective scopes (viewing instruments) such as arthroscopes (arthro- means “joint-related”) and endoscopes (endo- means “inside”), which could be combined with external viewing technology to provide a multi-faceted view of internal structures.
These technologies and instruments were used in sports surgeries such as exploratory or reparative knee surgery, to diagnose gynecological or reproductive disorders, and to perform angioplastic heart surgery, as well as a number of other procedures never before thought possible without extensively cutting into and exposing the area involved. The reduced need for cutting translated to reduced healing times and reduced pain after procedures, as well as fewer infections and less trauma to the body overall.
The medical community soon began to realize that these treatments and procedures could be grouped together into a specialty of their own, so that doctors could be trained specifically to address the unique challenges of this new form of “minimally invasive” surgery.
In turn, the attention to IRs and IR treatments has translated to more funding for even better technologies, and to medical school funding of IR specialists. Dr. Ravi Jhaveri, an IR with the Austin Radiological Society in Texas, explained his take on the process in a recent Hero Interview with Fibroids1: “The field of Interventional Radiology has been around for [more] than thirty years, but the last 15 years has seen an outpouring of fellowship-trained Interventionalists. This has dramatically increased our practice and visibility.”
Indeed, it can be seen from the events of the past few years that this was the case: By April 2002, the Society of Interventional Radiology (originally known as the Society of Cardiovascular Radiology, due to the applicability of the earlier technologies in heart-related medical care) began the official use of its current name, and was recognized throughout the medical sector as the representative organization of a truly dynamic field. The birth of a new specialty was complete.
Dr. Jhaveri went on to clarify some of the specifics of his specialty: “Interventional radiologists specialize in minimally invasive treatment procedures as opposed to open surgeries, relying on imaging tools for guidance,” he noted. IRs make use of “imaging tools like MRIs, CT and ultrasound to treat an assortment of medical conditions, ranging from uterine fibroids to . . . vascular disease,” he added.
One of the biggest news-makers in the field of IR is uterine fibroid embolization (UFE), for the treatment of uterine fibroids – one of the most common health complaints of women in their late reproductive years – with few side effects or drawbacks. The placement of cardiac stents is another a place where IRs can apply their skills. IR is also becoming the specialty of choice for the performance of many joint surgeries, gastrointestinal (GI) exploration and surgeries, or in any situation where doctors want to see – and treat – inside the body while also avoiding the trauma of major surgery.
No matter whether IRs are helping women achieve better reproductive health, prolonging heart patients’ lives, repairing damaged circulatory pathways, or aiding in the treatment of digestive disorders, it is certain that these specialists, as well as the treatments and technologies they use, will be key players in the world of health and medicine in the upcoming years.
