Imaging Services
Interventional
Radiology Clinic
About
Interventional Radiology Services
Uterine Fibroid Embolization
- Fibroids are benign (non-cancerous) masses in the uterus which cause pain and bleeding. UFE blocks up the arteries supplying the uterus, shrinking the fibroids and eliminating abnormal bleeding in the vast majority of cases.
Prostate Artery Embolization
- As men age, the prostate slowly enlarges, which can cause difficulty with urination (benign prostatic hyperplasia). This can be treated by blocking the prostate arteries, resulting in the prostate shrinking back to a normal size. This procedure can also treat abnormal prostatic bleeding.
Pelvic Vein Embolization
- Both men and women can have enlarged pelvic veins. In men, it is known as a varicocele. In women, it is known as pelvic congestion syndrome. Both can cause pain, and in men, varicoceles can cause infertility. Both can be treated by blocking the veins.
Sclerotherapy
- This procedure involves making small incisions over varicose veins and removing these veins through the incision. This is frequently performed at the same time as endovenous ablation when the varicose veins are large or numerous.
Peripheral Arterial Disease
- Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) occurs when the arteries supplying the legs or arms are narrowed or blocked entirely. This is commonly seen with diabetes and smoking. Your radiologist threads a catheter through a blood vessel to the affected artery and inflates a small balloon and/or a stent to reopen it.
Anterior Scalene Muscle Block
- This procedure is used to treat thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition in which nerves and/or blood vessels are compressed as they leave the chest and enter the arm. The anterior scalene muscle is treated with Botox to make it shrink. This reduces compression of the vessels and nerves.
Venous Clots & Chronic Venous Disease
- People can develop blood clots in the veins, most commonly the leg veins. If the clot is severe enough, your radiologist can remove it by spraying clot-busting medicine into the vein (thrombolysis) or sucking the clot out with a hose (thrombectomy). Some clots can cause the veins to become narrowed or allow blood to pool in the feet (post-thrombotic syndrome). This results in leg swelling and pain months to years after the initial clot. These veins can be opened up with a balloon and/or a stent during venography.
Percutaneous Ablation
- Tumors of the kidney, liver, lung, and bone can all be treated with ablation. One or more needles is inserted into the cancer, and the cancer is frozen or burned (depending on the type of equipment used). This is usually curative if the cancer has not already spread to another organ.
Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) Filter
- Most blood clots form in the legs. They can cause pain and swelling in the legs but can become fatal if they break loose and travel to the lungs. An IVC filter places a piece of metal in the IVC to act as a sieve. The filter traps large clot fragments in the belly, preventing them from traveling to the heart and lungs. After the filter is no longer needed, it is removed.
Transarterial Chemoembolization, Radioembolization & Ablation
- These procedures treat cancer that either starts in the liver (hepatocellular carcinoma) or has spread to the liver (liver metastases). The goal is to treat the cancer with large doses of chemotherapy or radiation while giving the normal tissues the least possible dose. This is accomplished by placing a small hose in the arteries that supply the liver and delivering the treatment directly to the cancer.
