Medical Services > Radiology Services > Interventional Radiology

Interventional Radiology

What is interventional radiology?
Interventional radiology is a rapidly growing area of medicine that uses non-surgical or minimally invasive techniques for diagnosis and treatment of certain medical conditions.

Small catheters or other guided instruments are used to view and capture images of the inside of blood vessels, the digestive tract, or other systems in the human body.

For some procedures, a very small incision is required. This is usually easier for the patient than conventional surgery, with less pain and a shorter recovery time.

Fluoroscopy, a type of interventional procedure, uses a very narrow instrument to take x-ray images that are projected onto a TV-like monitor. This allows a doctor to view real-time body function.

Why would I need an interventional procedure?
In many cases, minimally invasive procedures are preferred over conventional surgery. For example, with balloon angioplasty, blocked or narrowed blood vessels can be opened by inserting a very small balloon into the vessel and inflating it.

Image-guided interventional procedures include:

• Balloon angioplasty (blood vessels)
• Biopsies (breast, liver)
• Cyst aspiration (drainage)
• Uterine artery embolization (fibroids)
• Kidney stones and gall stones (removal)
• Carotid artery stenting (circulation in the brain)
• Endovascular stent grafting (abdominal aortic aneurism)
• Percutaneous vertebroplasty (for spinal fractures)

Greenwich Hospital’s radiology team offers many other types of procedures, all headed by board-certified interventional radiologists. These physicians have received subspecialty training beyond their primary specialty of radiology.

Interventional radiology services are generally pain-free, non-invasive and available to both outpatients and inpatients.