The healthcare industry has witnessed significant technological advancements over the last couple of decades. Among the newly inducted technologies, interventional radiology (IR) deserves a special mention as the perfect choice to help diagnose and provide the right treatment for patients. Hospitals often prefer this method due to its effectiveness and efficiency. When it’s accessible, this method provides precise diagnosis because of its ability to visualize real-time conditions inside the body.
What is interventional radiology?
The minimally invasive procedure relies on the guidance of medical imaging such as CT scans, x-rays, ultrasound, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Instead of having an open surgical procedure, doctors use advanced technologies to guide caterers or needles internally through the blood vessels. To diagnose the part of the body, the doctors make small incisions in the groin, wrist, or abdomen, through which they insert the needle. Radiologists will carefully interpret the images to diagnose and perform interventional medical procedures for the injury or disease.
Interventional Radiology procedure offers several benefits to diagnose complex health conditions. These include:
Low risk and fast recovery
Compared to open surgery, IR results in a lower risk of infection and other complications. Because IR is done with a precise guideline, the risk to damage other body parts is minimized.
Patients dread a long recovery period after major surgery. Patients might require weeks, maybe months to recover. Although doctors usually prescribe you pain medication but it will still affect your daily activity.
However, the procedure of IR involves a much smaller recovery period and will help you get back to your daily activity a lot faster. Because of the ability to reduce pain, in most cases, patients are allowed to come home after the procedure.
High level of accuracy and excellent result
The leading hospitals and IR centers use modern technologies and minimally invasive techniques to track and control the movement of the catheters. For instance, spectrum medical imaging uses high-end equipment and offers a great deal of accuracy.
The result is as good or even better than open surgery. The chances of developing complications are far low and make the procedure extremely reliable.
Interventional radiology procedures
Radiologists use a wide range of procedures to treat cancer, vascular disease, and pain management, such as:
Stenting: Implanting a small mesh of tubes known as stents to reduce chest pain.
Radiofrequency ablation: Radiologists use this effective method under image guidance to treat chronic lower back pain and tumors
Angioplasty: The process to unblock blood vessels and restore blood flow to the heart
Biopsies: Performed to determine possible cancerous and other health conditions such as inflammatory disorders.
Embolization: Interventional procedure of blocking blood vessels from flowing to cancer cells.
Thrombolysis: This procedure dissolves unusual blood clots that could cause damage to your organs.
Besides what is listed above, IR offers a wide range of other procedural methods for health conditions. You can always rely on it and choose it over traditional surgeries. However, it is important to look for a hospital or IR center that is known to have skilled radiologists to perform the procedure perfectly. As long as you get the procedure done at the right place, it will deliver a much better experience than undergoing open surgery.