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DIAGNOSTIC USES OF INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY
By: Hassan Abu-Shuqair
As of recent, groundbreaking advancements in the field of medicine have been achieved, it goes without saying that this has been mainly possible due to the revolutionary field of radiology. Not so long ago, radiology was referred to as simply; diagnostic imaging. This definition was valid at a time when treatments were carried out separately from diagnostic procedures which were done mainly by radiologists. Until one day, a radiologist named Charles Dotter(1) asked a question that would go on to reshape medical practices; is it possible to use the same diagnostic imaging tools to guide the real-time treatment of disease? The answer was yes, and later on this would set the foundation for the field of Interventional Radiology (IR). What distinguishes IR from other radiology subspecialties, is that it provides both diagnosis and treatment of disease through minimally invasive image-guided techniques. The term image guided refers to the fact that any procedure done in IR mainly depends on real-time taken preoperative or intraoperative images. These images are generated via imaging techniques such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans, X-rays, fluoroscopy, CT (computed tomography) scans and ultrasounds. Most of these techniques are commonly used in other radiology subspecialties, for instance: neuroradiology, pediatric radiology, etc. However, their application in other subspecialties is mainly for diagnostic purposes, unlike IR which counts on their outputs in treatment procedures. Nevertheless, there are other diagnostic methods which are more exclusively used by interventional radiologists such as: 1. Angiography: a technique which produces images by visualizing the internal lumen of blood vessels and body organs, mostly concerned with arteries, veins, and heart chambers (2). This technique has several uses including: coronary angiography, fluorescein angiography, micro-angiography, neuro-vascular angiography , etc. 2. Biopsy: a test that involves the extraction of sample cells or tissues for inspection to determine the presence or dimensions of a disease (3).
