INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY IN THE CHEST AND ABDOMEN

OVER the past 10 years, interventional radiology has become an essential subspecialty of general radiology. It has evolved from providing purely diagnostic information (e.g., antegrade pyelography and percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography) to offering palliative therapy (e.g., percutaneous nephrostomy and percutaneous biliary drainage). These percutaneous radiologically guided procedures are effective alternatives in the treatment of a variety of abdominal and thoracic disorders. Historically, many of the early developments in percutaneous techniques were first applied to the vascular system; Dotter,1 Grüntzig,2 Amplatz,3 Seldinger,4 Baum,5 and Ring6 and their colleagues developed guidewires, catheters, and balloons that could be used to diagnose and treat various… © 1990, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.