Back to Homepage
These IR docs are somewhere on the spectrum between a radiologist and a surgeon. IR doctors usually do one to two years of additional fellowship training after the radiology residency. There is such a high demand for IR procedures right now that many IR docs move away from reading images altogether, and primarily only do the procedures. Some examples of IR procedures are: cancer patients need something called ports. These are types of a permanent IV implanted under the skin surface to keep them clean as they’re being accessed. These are used instead of having to start a new IV every time you go in for a chemotherapy appointment, for example. These chemotherapy ports are placed by IR doctors who use ultrasound in order to guide them into the central vein in your chest. Drains are another pretty common procedure. Whether you have unwanted fluid on your lung or in the belly, even maybe a large, complex, postoperative infection.
An IR doctor leverages their ability to read x-rays and CAT scans to use those machines to find those collections of fluid and place very small catheters extremely precisely through the skin into the fluid collection needing to be drained. Angiography is another good example of an IR procedure. It’s a type of x-ray movie where the IR doctor uses a blood contrast agent to visualize blood vessels and blood flowing in real time. They may be looking for, let’s say, a site of internal bleeding. If that site of bleeding can be identified, intervenes immediately under the fluoroscope, the x-ray movie, and uses a number of devices and tricks they have at their disposal to stop that bleeding. A visit to an IR doctor will be different than going to get a regular imaging study, like a CAT scan of the abdomen or a MRI of the brain. There are technologists that help the IR docs, just like with your trip to get a diagnostic imaging study, but there’s also going to be other staff you will encounter. In particular, there’s always also going to be a nurse in the room. Sometimes there’s even a person from anesthesia team in order to provide light sedation during your procedure.
A trip to get an IR procedure is almost like a mini surgery, except even less invasive than, say, an outpatient ambulatory surgery visit. So you can expect to encounter more staff, have more preparatory contact with nurses prior to your arrival, giving you instructions and telling you what to expect. Interventional radiology provides a large number of high demand procedures. It is much less invasive and thus also much less risky than surgery in general, and may be a reasonable alternative when surgery isn’t an option. IR procedures are also more direct and have more immediate effects than, say, sometimes drugs or physical therapy can have. Sometimes these procedures can even be lifesaving thanks to the IR docs in interventional radiology.
