When minimally invasive surgery was first introduced in the early 1900s, it was hailed as a medical breakthrough. Now that this medical practice has undergone significant refinements over the years, the promise of it achieving further notoriety may prove to be equally as significant. While minimally invasive technology steadily gains new ground, a specific medical subspecialty, interventional radiology, is also increasing in influence and popularity.| Take Action |
Learn about the benefits of interventional radiology:
Most of the time procedures are done on an outpatient basis and if not, only a short hospital stay is required.
General anesthesia is usually not necessary.
The risk, pain, and recovery time of interventional procedures are significantly reduced as compared to surgery.
It is often less expensive than surgery or other alternatives. |
Despite historical advancements, interventional radiology is among the most commonly misunderstood medical subspecialty. Diagnostic radiologists perform tests and identify the condition to be treated; interventional radiologists perform the treatment itself. (The word "interventional" refers to the direct treatment of a disease or a medical condition.) Interventional radiologists are like surgeons: they use microscopic instruments to address pathologies in the body’s tissue, typically with minimally invasive instruments. They differ from surgeons in a key area: they do not perform open surgeries. Many interventional radiologists expect that their field will begin to be classified as a surgical subspecialty in the decade to come. Similarly, due to technological and medical advancement, many expect that the gap between interventional radiology and diagnostic radiology will also grow.
According to Dr. William Rilling, Professor of Interventional Radiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, "Traditionally, a ‘radiologist’ has been thought of as sitting in front of a board," he said. "Diagnostic radiology is the kind of radiology that people are more familiar with. It involves the interpretation of imaging studies, such as CT scanning, MRIs, ultrasound, and mammography. [But] interventional radiology is a subspecialty that involves the treatment of disease with minimally invasive surgical technology."
The discipline of interventional radiology overlaps with other specialties, such as gynecology and oncology. However, interventional radiology is not defined by its treatment of a particular organ system or a class of diseases. Instead, interventional radiology treats many different organs and conditions. The defining factor is that all of the procedures use radiology to guide tiny instruments through the body to the area that requires treatment. For this reason, interventional radiologists have proven to be invaluable partners, working in concert with physicians from other specialties. Many have also taken on an additional subspecialty themselves.
Dr. Rilling predicts that many of the most promising, pioneering new treatments for cancer will fall under the auspices of interventional radiology. "I think interventional treatments for cancer are going to be where a lot of our real advances are, [and these] are going to have the biggest impact on society," he said. "With the population demographics being what they are, the number of people needing and wanting minimally invasive treatments or image-guided treatments for cancer are going to be in very high demand. We’re seeing some very exciting developments."
Dr. Rilling and his colleagues further predict that interventional radiology will continue to develop into a widely recognized clinical subspecialty. Given the evidence of minimally invasive techniques already advancing in popularity at their current rate, Dr. Rilling is likely to be proven right.
