Interventional radiology is a rapidly growing subspecialty that makes it possible to carry out minimal surgical procedures under imaging guidance (angiography, computed tomography or ultrasound), without open surgery or an operating theatre.
Using specially designed needles, catheters and guidewires, interventional radiologists target various conditions in different organs by advancing inside the blood vessels or through the skin.
At Anadolu Medical Center, all complex procedures are performed by interventional radiologists certified by an international body (the European Board of Interventional Radiology, EBIR).
Procedures carried out in the Interventional Radiology department at Anadolu Medical Center:
- Biopsy: safe and effective collection of samples from different organs for diagnostic purposes.
- Drainage: removal from the body of fluid collections such as ascites, bile, cysts, abscesses and so on.
- Vascular treatments: narrowings or blockages of arteries or veins can be opened with stents and balloons, in other organs as well as in the vessels of the heart. Interventional radiologists can sometimes aim to occlude vessels that may cause haemorrhage. Vascular malformations and varicose veins — which can lead to serious health complications in the lung, intestine and elsewhere, as well as cosmetic problems — are also treated by the endovascular route.
- Cancer treatments: many tumours can be treated using heat, freezing or chemical destruction techniques. Another standard treatment, used mainly for primary and metastatic liver tumours, consists of blocking the tumour's blood vessels with microparticles (embolisation), chemotherapy agents (chemoembolisation) or radioactive isotopes (radioembolisation).
- Neurological treatments: when an acute stroke is diagnosed within the first 6 hours, it can be treated by removing, under angiographic guidance, the clot present in the blood vessels of the brain. Intracranial haemorrhage — one of the deadliest and most disabling problems caused by cerebral aneurysms — can be treated by interventional neuro-embolisation.
What is radiofrequency ablation?
Tumour ablations are minimally invasive surgical procedures that can be used in the treatment of various organs such as the liver, lung, bone and so on. In this technique, special probes or needles are inserted into the tumour through the skin under radiological guidance. Heat (radiofrequency/microwave), freezing (cryoablation) or chemical substances such as alcohol are then used to destroy the cancer cells.
What is embolisation?
Embolisation means blocking blood vessels. The interventional radiologist can use this technique to treat abnormal vessels, aneurysms, tumours, injuries and so on, using particles, coils, liquid substances or even stents. Dilatation of the arteries supplying different organs (in particular cerebral aneurysms, if untreated) can cause life-threatening haemorrhage.
What is radioembolisation / chemoembolisation?
Radioembolisation and chemoembolisation are similar procedures: both begin with a catheter being introduced, from the groin region, into the vessels that supply the liver tumour. In chemoembolisation, microparticles loaded with chemotherapy agents are injected angiographically into liver tumours. In radioembolisation, radioactive microspheres (Yttrium-90) are used for the same purpose; these allow high-dose irradiation inside the tumour, while the neighbouring healthy tissue receives only minimal irradiation.
(Illustrations: CIRSE)
Murat Dökdök
M.D.
Radiology
Murat Dökdök
M.D.
Radiology
Education and career
• Istanbul University, Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine
• Göztepe Public Hospital
• University of Minnesota, USA
• Harvard Medical School, MGH, USA
• Acıbadem Hospital
Medical specialities and areas of interest
• Interventional radiology
• Cardiovascular imaging
• Neuroradiology
• Turkish Society of Radiology
• European Society of Radiology
Research and publications
• 30 national publications and citations