Spotlight: Interventional Radiology

At Premier Health, few services may be as broadly utilized as those in the field of interventional radiology. The health system’s team of interventional radiologists uses image-guided, minimally invasive procedures to deliver targeted treatments.

Interventional radiology often offers much less risk and pain, as well as shorter recovery times, when compared to traditional surgery. It includes both vascular and non-vascular intervention, and incorporates techniques with image guidance, using CT, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, or MRI for a variety of medical needs.

“As interventional radiologists, we are involved in helping to provide crucial guidance for everything from tissue sampling, pain palliation, cancer treatment, and emergent embolization to opening veins and arteries,” said Shannon Kauffman, MD, Miami Valley Hospital department of medical imaging. “We are also essential for providing guidance for things such as abscess drains, tube insertions for feedings, biopsies, aggressive cancer treatment, and trauma. You name it, and interventional radiologists are likely involved in it.”

Dr. Kauffman and the team at Miami Valley Hospital also work in a combined clinic setting with oncology specialists to help deliver life-saving treatment for patients battling a number of different cancers. For example, they utilize technology such as the Yttrium-90 (Y90) radioembolization for the treatment of liver cancer, as well as microwave ablation, radiofrequency ablation, and cryoablation for liver cancer, and cancers in other locations, such as kidneys, lungs, bone, and other soft tissues.

In addition, specialists are using an even newer technology called irreversible electroporation (IRE) that uses a non-thermal ablation technique to kill tumor cells in areas previously contraindicated for thermal ablation.

Cancer treatment is, of course, just one area in which advanced technology is being employed.

“We are one of the only facilities in the area that is offering vein ablation for patients who are suffering with vein reflux,” said Freddy Katai, MD, Atrium Medical Center department of medical imaging. “We can really help patients with a wide range of symptoms that, if left untreated, can develop into ulcers on the leg or ankle. We can help by doing an outpatient procedure where we perform a radio frequency ablation that gives immediate relief.”

No matter what a patient’s needs might be, Premier Health’s interventional radiologists are well equipped to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of disease entities. 

Back to the September 2018 issue of Premier Pulse