Interventional radiology for therapeutic purposes in oncology includes procedures for the treatment of cancer, under the control of a means of imaging (fluoroscopy, ultrasound, CT scan, MRI), performed by a radiologist.
With targeted therapy, interventional radiology is one of the newer weapons against cancer that complements conventional treatments such as chemotherapy , radiotherapy and surgery . The interventional procedures are for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. They are practiced through the skin, by the vascular network or the natural ways, using needles or product injections through catheters. In particular, they have the advantage of being less invasive for the patient than conventional surgery.
These known as mini-invasive techniques make it possible to access a tumor target in depth by using the natural pathways (digestive tract,urinary system, etc.), the viscos muscular network (veins or arteries) or by selecting a short and risk-free path by means of an organ (eg transcutaneous pathway for the liver or vertebrae).
Interventional radiology interventions aimed at healing the tumor, as well as its destruction by several types of processes, such as cold, laser, ultrasound or other treatments, using the transcutaneous route
– Interventional radiology interventions for the placement of prostheses, gastrostomy
Deliver a treatment closer to the tumor with interventional radiology
Interventional radiology allows guidance in the arteries closest to the tumor to directly deliver the treatments, either instead or in combination with a diffuse treatment throughout the body administered by conventional chemotherapy, that is to say by the veins.
The treatments in question are multiple: ischemic particles (embolization), chemotherapy in long infusion by implanted catheters, in emulsion (chemoembolization), or fixed on beads locked in the tumor radioactive particles
These innovative treatments are increasingly finding their place in traditional strategies. They are used in the treatment of primary cancer of the liver (HCC or hepatocellular carcinoma), liver metastases of colorectal cancer, bronchial or renal carcinoma, but can be considered in any cancer as soon as a locoregional control of the disease is targeted, and that there is an exclusive tumor vascularization allowing the gesture.
Interventional radiology, a rapidly growing discipline, is fully integrated into the treatment of pain and the management of pain in oncology.
The major advances in imaging over the past two decades, both in terms of speed and quality, have made it possible to carry out more and more percutaneous procedures (under ultrasound guidance, computed tomography (CT and MRI).
One of the most common causes of pain is bone metastases (the majority of cancers can metastasize to the bone, the most osteophilic tumors being breast, prostate, thyroid, lung and kidney). These metastases are most often multiple and diffuse, mainly at the level of the thoracolumbar vertebrae (70%), the pelvis, the femurs (neck) but all the skeleton can be reached. They are a common cause of pain and impaired quality of life. The origin of pain is related to different mechanisms: tensioning of the periosteum by the tumor, tumor secretion of pain mediators, osteolysis and fractures, invasion of nerve structures.
