Interventional neuroradiology (also known as neurointerventional surgery, or endovascular neurosurgery, or endovascular surgical neuroradiology) is a subspecialty of Hoag Radiology that utilizes advanced imaging and minimally invasive techniques for the treatment of life-threatening conditions of the blood vessels and of the brain and spine, such as acute stroke, cerebral aneurysms, arterial stenosis, and vascular malformations.
Hoag Interventional Neuroradiology treats the following conditions:
The Interventional Neuroradiology team is comprised of highly trained experts with fellowship training and experience in diagnostic and interventional neuroradiology. Along with Neurosurgeons, Neurologists, and Critical Care physicians, Hoag’s multidisciplinary team of neurointerventional specialists is committed to providing the latest, safest, and most effective diagnostic imaging studies, surgical techniques, and management strategies tailored to each patient.
Cerebral angiography is a procedure that allows exquisite X-ray pictures of the blood vessels of the brain to be taken. These are higher in resolution and provide flow information that cannot be obtained from a CT or MRI scan. Through a very small incision in the groin, a catheter (long polymer tube) is placed into the blood stream and navigated into the blood vessels in the neck. With the catheter in an artery in the neck, X-ray pictures are taken while contrast is injected into the artery through the catheter, yielding an angiogram.
Intraarterial thrombectomy has also become a popular treatment option by interventionalists, who commonly extract an intraarterial clot with a suction catheter.
Intraarterial thrombolysis and thrombectomy are highly specialized procedures performed by an interventional radiologist.
Thrombolysis is the administration of clot-dissolving medication, which can be injected into a peripheral vein, usually in the arm (intravenous) or into an artery via a catheter, which is advanced from the groin into the brain (intraarterial).
Endovascular embolization involves a catheter being inserted into the femoral artery in the groin and positioned within the brain. Through the catheter, platinum coils, Onyx, or glue will be placed into the blood vessel abnormality to prevent blood from entering it.
Angioplasty and stenting involves placing a catheter that incorporates a special balloon across a narrowed blood vessel segment. Inflating the balloon stretches the narrowed blood vessel open. A stent (a tubular metallic mesh) is then placed into the blood vessel to keep it from narrowing again.
Using state-of-art technology in combination with the latest medical devices and proven techniques, conditions that formerly required skull opening and surgical treatment can now be approached safely with minimally invasive techniques from inside the blood vessels themselves.
Through a small incision in the groin, a variety of catheters (long polymer tubes) and devices can be navigated under X-ray guidance (fluoroscopy) into the arteries throughout the body to treat without the need to open the skull. Several types of devices (coils, stents, angioplasty balloons, clot removal devices) can be placed into vessels via these catheters to treat many vascular conditions of the brain and spine.
Compared to traditional surgery, these procedures result in shorter hospital stays and faster recovery times. In addition, interventional neuroradiologists at Hoag use advanced CT and MRI techniques in the planning stages of each patient’s treatment.
Patients: Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute offers a variety of educational events and support services for patients. Learn more.
Physicians: To refer a patient, please call 949-764-7365.