A medical specialization that is a rapidly growing sector in the field of medicine and is involved in performing a range of imaging procedures which are done to get the inside view of the body. This medical specialization interprets the images carefully to get the proper idea of the injury or the disease occurring internally and then proceed with the required medical procedures. There are various techniques used by Interventional Radiologists to get the internal image of the body including X-Rays, Scanning, CT (Computed Tomography) Scans, MRIs (Magnetic resonance imaging) and Ultrasounds. Fluoroscopy is an advanced technology which is used to get the internal view of the body in motion. Interventional radiologists are perfectly trained medical staffs who have the knowledge of both Radiology and Interventional techniques. At present, a bunch of medical procedures is performed by Interventional Radiologists including treatment of tumors, taking organ biopsies and placing Catheters (a thin plastic tube inserted inside the body through artery or vein). By Interventional Radiology the use of traditional or laparoscopic surgery has been reduced as the images tell the exact position of the surgery and so catheters are placed very easily.
Advantages of Interventional Radiology:
- Day Care- Most of the procedures done under interventional radiology require a very short stay at the hospital.
- Use of Anesthesia is generally not needed.
- Faster Recovery- It takes very less time to recover and even the pain and risk is also almost negligible.
- Cost Effective- Besides other medical procedures including surgery this medical specialization is less expensive.
- No Scars- As it is a minimally invasive procedure so the treatment is left with no scars, unlike other traditional and laparoscopic surgery.
Procedures involved in Interventional Radiology:
- Angiography- it is a certain kind of X-ray done to examine the blood vessels as blood vessels are generally not visible in a normal X-Ray so there is a special dye injected into our blood vessels.
- Balloon Angioplasty- the minimally invasive procedure is done to open the choked or narrowed coronary arteries of legs, arms, brain or any other part of the body so that the heart will receive the proper flow of blood.
- Biliary Drainage and Stenting- in this procedure a thin plastic tube is inserted through the skin into the liver in order to get the Bile juice drained in our liver.
- Vena Cava Filter- in this medical procedure a filtering device is inserted within IVC a largely sized vein present in the abdomen that is responsible to transport the blood from the lower portion of the body to the heart.
- Venous Embolization- the minimally invasive procedure used to relieve the patient from the pain through imaging guidance and a catheter so that the diseased vein must not enlarge with the body.
- CyberKnife- this minimally invasive procedure is used to treat cancerous as well as non-cancerous diseases by providing a heavy dose of radiations in order to destroy the tumors completely which are developing inside the human body.
Apart from the above-mentioned procedure, there are several other procedures performed by Interventional Radiologists and the list of advancement in radiology is even expanding more.
Hospitals offering Interventional Radiology Treatment in India- Earlier this treatment was limited to only some of the hospitals and even the technology was also not much developed but in last some years our country has done a great achievement in this medical procedure and has made it specialized in the medical sector. Fortis Hospital, Max Healthcare, Nanavati Hospital, BLK Super Specialty Hospitals are some of the best hospitals providing optimal results with minimal risks.
Cost of Interventional Radiology Therapy- As compared to other countries the cost of Radiology treatment procedures is very less in India. If we check the price of Angioplasty in Britain then it costs around $25,000 there but in India, the same treatment would cost $6,000.
Challenges faced by the country:
- Financial Considerations- The requirement of capital is not only limited to buying the equipment only but also to accumulate the cost of disposables including catheters, wires, and the required needles.
- Time- Intensive- It usually happens that when the technology and disposables are not available at the hospitals then the procedure gets delayed and so it becomes time constraint.
Ways to overcome these issues- Proper management of the resources available can help to minimize the challenge of financial considerations. Another way to overcome the challenges is to provide the proper training to the radiologists so that everything would be managed well at a time.
