The interventionalism of medicine: interventional radiology, cardiology, and neuroradiology

Abstract

Interventional medical practitioners are specialists who do minimally invasive procedures instead of surgery or other treatment. Most often, these procedures utilize various imaging and catheterization techniques in order to diagnose and treat vascular issues in the body. Interventionalist techniques, including injecting arteries with dye, visualizing these via x-ray, and opening up blockages, developed from early pioneers' bold and sometimes controversial experiments which aimed to find safer and better ways to treat coronary artery and other atherosclerotic vascular disease. Currently, the major interventional specialties are interventional (or vascular) radiology, interventional cardiology, and endovascular surgical (interventional) neuroradiology. All three are perfecting the use of stents and other procedures to keep diseased arteries open, while also evaluating the application these procedures. The rapid new development of imaging technologies, mechanical devices, and types of treatment, while certainly beneficial to the patient, can also lead to ambiguity regarding specific specialty claims on certain techniques and devices. While these practitioners can be in competition with each other, cooperation and communication are the most advantageous methods to deal with these "turf wars." All of the interventionalists are needed to deliver the best medical care to patients, now and in the future.

Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of linear and nonlinear indices of heart rate variability in stable angina patients

“…Based on the linear indices evaluated in our study, parasympathetic activity was reduced in CAD patients. Previous studies support our findings, which is associated with changes in autonomic regulation on heart [11,12], in patients showing the symptoms of CAD the symptoms of CAD [13-15], and there is evidence that the reduction of heart rate variability as a result of this change may be related to the severity of hemodynamically significant coronary stenosis as well as progression of coronary atherosclerosis in humans [16,17]. Hayano et al [16] demonstrated the existence of an association between reduction of vagal stimulation on the heart, using the analysis of spectral components, and angiographic severity of CAD.…”

Interventional Psychiatry: How Should Psychiatric Educators Incorporate Neuromodulation into Training?

“…This is an expected and natural transition when standard medical treatments fail and patients become treatment resistant. Cardiology was the first medical specialty to grow an interventional subgroup, borrowing techniques from radiology (fluoroscopy) and using them to image vascular occlusions [3]. Simultaneously, cardiology also developed electrical interventions in order to convert aberrant electrical rhythms back to normalcy.…”

“…The interventional neurologist emerged, utilizing a modified version of the toolset of cardiology combined with a refined understanding of the functional neurologic state of their patients [3]. As with cardiology, neurology realized and harnessed the electrochemical nature of the brain.…”

“…Instead, our intent is to use the term interventional in a manner analogous to how it is used in fields like cardiology, radiology, and neurology. In these fields, the term interventional describes physicians who are certified, by nature of training and experience, to perform interventions that are procedural and typically more invasive than general medical care within that specialty [3]. …”

A composite strategy to fabricate high-performance biodegradable stents for tissue regeneration

“…The in vivo experiments employed mainly a model of swine ilio-femoral vessels and led to a good vessel repair efficacy. Endovascular interventional treatment is an approach that deals with the cardiovascular diseases [11]. Stents have been widely used in clinics, especially with combination of the interventional treatment.…”