Interventional Wisdom

Below are a few comments about interventional procedures with VDF's new president Alain Drooz, an interventional radiologist in Fairfax, Virginia.

• About endovascular procedures
  This new class of procedures is called "endovascular procedures" because the repair is done from the inside of the blood vessel rather than from the outside.
• About catheters
  Catheters are tiny hollow tubes. Most catheters are about as thick as the head of an ink pen. It is very unusual to feel the catheter inside you.
• About angiograms
  Before a procedure, a "road map" of the diseased blood vessels is often obtained with an angiogram. This is done by injecting a medication called contrast material through the catheter. Contrast material is a clear, colorless liquid that outlines blood vessels on X-ray images. This usually takes only a few minutes at most and may give you short sensations of warmth. The images are taken by a device called an X-ray camera that is usually positioned a few inches above your body in the area of interest.
• About the opening
  Sometimes the catheter opening is closed with a few minutes of manual compression, just long enough to allow the blood vessel to begin to repair itself and stop bleeding. Other times a closure device is used. Closure devices help the vessel repair itself more quickly and generally let you get up and about sooner. It usually takes a short time for the entry site to get back to normal, so you will likely be on bed rest for a couple of hours initially, and then light activity at home for a few days.