Interventional radiology

Introduction

 

Practically all interventional procedures are based on Seldinger's historic invention of the percutaneous technique for inserting catheters into blood vessels in 1953. Using this principle percutaneous access to many organ systems was developed in the mid 1950s to the 1960s. After a slow start and much scepticism from the clinicians, the performance of percutaneous procedures gained momentum and had a tremendous surge during the 1970s and 1980s, thanks to rapid developments in material, science and biotechnology. The expansion of these "minimally invasive therapies" has been further helped by the development of high resolution image intensifiers, digital subtraction angiography and rapid advances in ultrasound (US) and computed tomography (CT).

 

Christoph Zollikofer