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Interventional radiology uses cutting-edge imaging techniques that diagnose and treat many problems that would otherwise require surgery. HealthyU Clinics has offices in Surprise, Phoenix, Chandler, Gilbert, Avondale, Glendale, and Mesa, Arizona, where highly skilled providers perform interventional radiology procedures. To learn more about the benefits of interventional radiology and the practices offered by HealthyU Clinics, call your nearest office today or book an appointment online.
Interventional Radiology Q & A
What is interventional radiology?
Interventional radiology uses medical imaging techniques to guide doctors during diagnostic and treatment procedures.
Interventional radiology only requires tiny incisions, so it’s minimally invasive. Image guidance ensures optimal precision, helping doctors avoid damaging tissues, organs, and skin surrounding the treatment site.
That means procedures are significantly less painful than surgery. Most don’t involve a hospital stay, with the HealthyU Clinics practitioners performing the procedures in-office. Patients typically recover quickly with little or no scarring.
What does interventional radiology involve?
When you undergo interventional radiology, your provider uses ultrasound or fluoroscopy (moving X-ray) to carry out procedures like inserting a catheter (slim, flexible tube) into a blood vessel.
You might need a mild sedative and/or local anesthesia to ensure your comfort, but patients rarely require a general anesthetic.
What uses does interventional radiology have?
Interventional radiology has many uses, including:
Angiography
Angiography is a diagnostic procedure that examines the inside of your blood vessels for narrowing and weaknesses. The interventional radiologist can also treat heart and blood vessel problems with balloon angioplasty (widening narrowed arteries), stenting (inserting a mesh tube to hold arteries open), or embolization (breaking up a blood clot).
Tube placement
Interventional radiology procedures guide your provider when placing drainage tubes to remove excess fluid, feeding tubes for people who can’t eat, and central lines for kidney dialysis.
Biopsies
Interventional radiology techniques enable your provider to perform an accurate biopsy, extracting tissue samples for lab analysis.
Joint aspirations
Your provider can draw excess fluid out of your joints using a needle that utilizes interventional radiology techniques.
Photoevaporation
Photoevaporation involves using lasers to destroy painful bumps caused by vascular malformations (abnormal blood vessels).
Abscess drainage
An abscess is an abnormal fluid-filled pocket. The pressure buildup from the excess fluid can cause severe pain and tenderness, so your provider drains the abscess to relieve your symptoms.
Radiofrequency ablation
Radiofrequency ablation destroys nerve endings in painful areas like the spine and large joints. Your provider inserts wires that use radiofrequency energy to heat the nerves.
Steroid injections and nerve blocks
Your provider injects a steroid and/or local anesthetic into a painful joint, nerve cluster, or part of your spine to relieve inflammation and pain.
To learn more about the interventional radiology services available at HealthyU Clinics, call the nearest office or book an appointment online today.