Spectrum of Procedures
Interventional radiology is involved in the treatment of virtually the whole person, therefore the spectrum of procedures is really extensive.
One of the main focuses of the Department of Interventional Radiology is vascular issues. After all, this is the origin of the name of the specially adapted X-ray machine for the examination of blood vessels - "Angio" (angeion - Greek for blood vessel). It is therefore primarily concerned with the treatment of degenerative vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis (blockage) of the arteries, venous thrombosis (blood clot) and a whole range of others (inflammation, vascular tumours and other pathological structures - congenital and acquired, strokes, etc.
From the non-vascular interventions, these are mainly biopsies (tissue sampling), drainage of pathological collections (pus, blood, lymph) and various ablative methods (thermal destruction of pathological tissues - tumors).
Interventional radiology is applied in cancer therapy either as a fully curative method or as palliation (treatment aimed at alleviating difficulties in incurable patients). Elsewhere, its methods help in preoperative preparation to avoid massive bleeding during surgery. Interventional radiology finds other uses in trauma, as it very quickly and effectively stops arterial bleeding anywhere in the body. For the same reason, it is used as a solution to complications after major surgery, where otherwise the only option would be another operation, which would place a significant physical and psychological burden on the patient.
The ratio of acute to elective procedures varies considerably depending on the number of acute patients brought by ambulance to the hospital, but also, for example, on the number of major operations within the FNB.