Modern medicine is complex. There are a lot of different treatment options, there are a lot of considerations as we keep advancing toward better diagnosis and more information-guided assessments and treatment protocols.
Medicine is constantly evolving. Each day, it seems, there are new drugs, technologies and trials that are improving patient outcomes and changing the way physicians provide care. One innovative medical specialty that is changing the treatment paradigm for both common and life-threatening health conditions is interventional radiology.
“What we do are minimally invasive procedures where patients usually go home the same day or the next day,” said Dr. Theresa Caridi, an interventional radiologist and assistant professor in the Division of Vascular and Interventional Radiology at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
Unlike traditional surgical methods, interventional radiology uses medical imaging to guide diagnosis and treatment. In most cases, physicians make a small hole or incision in the upper leg or wrist and navigate the body with fine tubes and wires to deliver targeted treatments. Caridi, who specializes in treating uterine fibroids, uses these tubes to deliver embolic agents that starve the fibroids of blood flow, eliminating the often debilitating symptoms they cause in women.
Common men’s health conditions and vascular diseases can also be treated with interventional radiology — so can tumors in cancer patients.
“It’s surprising how many areas of the body and how many conditions we are actually involved in,” Caridi said.
Sue Sedory, executive director of the Society of Interventional Radiology, notes how in the last 50 years, evidence-based IR has come a long way. More referring physicians are fostering a team-based approach to patient care by working collaboratively with interventional radiologists. Patients are also taking their health into their own hands by seeking consultations with interventional radiologists when they are hesitant to undergo surgery or are told no other treatments are available.
“I think interventional radiologists see patients all the time who have thought that there are no other alternatives, no other options, no other ways to even think about their disease. They’ve accepted it as the norm; they’ve accepted this reduced quality of life, this other way of living as part of what they can expect,” Sedory said.
“And we are really very passionate about making sure that all patients can learn for themselves and identify whether or not they may be eligible for other options that exist. There are places, there are people, there are physicians who want to help them, and that’s what we’re here to tell people about.”
To help both patients and referring physicians find an interventional radiologist, the Society of Interventional Radiology maintains an online directory of physicians practicing in the U.S. and abroad.
“Modern medicine is complex. There are a lot of different treatment options, there are a lot of considerations as we keep advancing toward better diagnosis and more information-guided assessments and treatment protocols,” Sedory said.
“We know that patients are really, in many cases, their best advocate. We can’t stop a patient from looking to Dr. Google to answer their medical concerns. We really want to make sure that the information that they find on the internet is expert, is trusted, is evidence-based, and that they use that to start their conversation.”
