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An interventional radiologist can work with your doctor or specialist to treat many of today’s toughest medical problems, including cancer, vascular diseases, and men and women’s health conditions.

What is interventional radiology?

Interventional radiology (also known as IR) is a medical specialty that harnesses the power of advanced imaging techniques, such as X-rays, fluoroscopy, CT, MRI or ultrasound, to look inside of the human body and pinpoint the problem. These high-tech imaging modalities are then combined with minimally invasive procedures in real time to treat the problem. 

IR delivers treatments with reduced risk, less pain and shorter recovery times than open surgery, reducing the length of hospital stays, minimizing potential complications and saving lives.

Who is an interventional radiologist and what do they treat?

An interventional radiologist is a highly trained physician that incorporates high-tech imaging modalities with minimally invasive procedures to diagnose and treat a wide variety of diseases almost anywhere in the body.  

Interventional radiologists are on the front lines of clinical advances and work across the body to deliver minimally invasive treatments for a variety of conditions.

Review our list below to learn more about the conditions that IRs treat.

Ablation
Ablation therapy is a procedure doctors use to destroy abnormal tissue that can be present in many conditions.
Biopsy
A biopsy is a procedure to remove a piece of tissue or a sample of cells from your body so that it can be tested in a laboratory.
Drainage
Image-guided percutaneous drainage involves using a catheter (a thin tube) to drain an abscess or a collection of fluid or air under image guidance.
Embolization
Embolization may be used to treat fibroids, pelvic veins, enlarged prostate, varicoceles and other conditions. It usually refers to a procedure in which medical materials or devices are placed into a blood vessel to temporarily or permanently stop bleeding.
Interventional Oncology
TBA
IVC filter
IVC filter placement is a preventative tool placed inside a huge vein in the abdomen called the inferior vena cava to trap any blood clots that may break free from the veins in the legs and potentially reach the heart or the lungs. An IVC filter is one of the many treatments used to prevent a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot that travels to the lungs) and should only be placed in patients that cannot receive blood thinners or in patients in whom blood thinning treatment has failed.
Mens Health
Interventional radiologists may treat an enlarged prostate, and alleviate its worrisome symptoms, by blocking blood flow to the prostate (causing it to shrink), using a technique called embolization. They also use the same technique to reduce the swelling and pain associated with enlarged veins in the scrotum called varicoceles.
Pain Management
Interventional radiologists can provide minimally invasive treatments to relieve pain, including epidural steroid injection, facet joint injections/denervation, percutaneous discectomy, interspinous spacer placement for spinal stenosis, spinal cord stimulation and targeted drug delivery.
Pediatric
Pediatric interventional radiologists (PIRs) are specially trained to deliver minimally invasive care to infants, children and teenagers. The treatments they deliver carry less risk, less pain and less recovery time than traditional surgery.
Peripheral Arterial
PAD happens when arteries in the legs narrow, reducing or cutting off blood flow, and is a leading cause of non-trauma related amputations when not diagnosed and treated early.
Sclerotherapy
Sclerotherapy is the direct injection through a tiny needle of a chemical irritant into a vein causing it to shrink and close. This technique is often used to treat smaller veins such as spider veins.
Stenting
Stenting is the placement of a woven tube covered by a metal mesh at the site of weakness to reinforce the arterial wall. Device placement is done with the help of a catheter which is inserted through the groin under real-time X-ray. Stent grafts are metallic stents covered by graft material and often used to treat an enlarged aorta in an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Thoracic/Abdominal
TBA
Thrombolysis
Thrombolysis treats vascular blockages and improves blood flow by dissolving abnormal blood clots. A blood clot, or thrombus, can block off blood supply to certain parts of the body and cause serious damage. During catheter-directed thrombolysis, the physician uses X-ray imaging and a catheter to guide special medication or a medical device to the site of a blood clot to dissolve the blockage, to remove it and to prevent the vein or artery from becoming permanently blocked and restricting blood flow to a limb or organ.
Venous
TBA
Womens Health
Interventional radiologists treat a variety of conditions for women including uterine fibroids, infertility, chronic pelvic pain and varicose veins
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Peripheral arterial disease (PAD)

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a common condition affecting 1 in 20 Americans age 50 and older.

Peripheral Arterial Stenting Thrombolysis

Uterine fibroids

A uterine fibroid (leiomyoma) is a specific type of non-cancerous growth that occurs in the muscle cells or fibrous connective tissue of the uterus and can alter a woman’s period in many different ways. Uterine fibroid embolization avoids surgery, preserves the uterus, controls symptoms and improves quality of life.

Womens Health Embolization

Cancer

Interventional radiologists (IRs) are an integral part of a cancer patient’s care team. Medical oncologists treat cancer with medications, while surgical oncologists remove cancer surgically. Alternatively, IRs treat or kill cancer with minimally invasive therapies. IRs who treat cancer, are sometimes called interventional oncologists (IOs). IRs help cancer patients along their entire cancer journey:

Interventional Oncology Biopsy Ablation Embolization

Deep venous disease

Blood clots in the veins are known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and can travel to the lungs, becoming a pulmonary embolism (PE). Learn more about the signs, symptoms and risk factors that contribute to blood clot development.

Venous Thrombolysis IVC filter

Joint or tendon pain

Joint pain due to osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of disability among older adults. IRs can help treat knee osteoarthritis, tennis elbow and frozen shoulder.

Pain Management Embolization Ablation

Back pain

Most people suffer from low back pain at some point in their lives. In most cases, the back pain gets better on its own. When it doesn’t, there are several steps you can take.

Pain Management
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Last updated

This page was last updated by the Society of Interventional Radiology, Feb. 2025.