Cincinnati Children's Opens Interventional Radiology Labs
CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has opened two new Interventional Radiology Labs and acquired new imaging technology that enables interventional radiologists to perform minimally invasive procedures that were not previously possible.
The fully digital Philips Integris Allura systems in the new labs give physicians the ability to capture and view detailed two- and three-dimensional images of a patient's blood vessels, brain, kidneys, liver and other organs. These images facilitate faster and more accurate diagnosis and treatment of many diseases.
"I believe that the Philips systems will take our hospital to the next level of interventional radiological care and give us new opportunities to work with surgeons and other clinicians to significantly improve patient care and outcomes," says John Racadio, MD, chief of interventional radiology at Cincinnati Children's.
Interventional radiology is, by definition, image-guided minimally invasive surgery. The new equipment and lab location (adjacent to the operating rooms) enhance opportunities for interventional radiologists to work with surgeons and other physicians using catheter-based interventions that can reduce recovery time without the pain of a large incision, cause minimal surgical scarring, and produce shorter hospital stays for many pediatric conditions.
For example, interventional radiologists are working with urologists at Cincinnati Children's to remove large kidney stones in children. The new technology helps them guide a catheter into the kidney. Urologists then zap the stones using a laser.
Cincinnati Children's interventional radiologists also are working with pediatric surgeons to help place central venous lines. These are surgically placed lines through which many patients, such as children with cancer, receive drug therapy. Unfortunately, many patients with chronic illness often have occluded vessels. Now, interventional radiologists can use the new systems to find alternate routes to surgically get the catheter from point A to point B.
Cincinnati Children's is the only national pediatric "show site" for Philips Medical Systems' angiographic and interventional systems. An angiogram is an X-ray of blood vessels that requires the injection of a contrast material (dye). Compared to previous generations of angiographic equipment, the Integris Allura systems expose patients to less radiation and decrease the amount of contrast dye that each child receives. It is also integrated with Cincinnati Children's picture archiving communication system, which makes all X-ray images and radiologists' reports available electronically throughout the medical center.
The multi-functional systems not only help augment the work of pediatric surgeons but also give interventional radiologists new capabilities. "Say there is an aneurysm in the kidney and you want to block the blood supply so that the aneurysm doesn't hemorrhage or burst," says Dr. Racadio. "With just one injection of dye and one series of X-rays, we can get a complete, multi-dimensional picture of the kidney, insert a microcatheter and block off the aneurysm."
Cincinnati Children's performs more than 1,500 interventional procedures each year.
Contact Information
Jim Feuer, 514-636-4656, jim.feuer@cchmc.org
