Hi-tech treatments cut out surgery

New breakthroughs can help women avoid open surgery for a number of common health conditions.

Many conditions—including chronic pelvic pain, varicose veins and deep vein thrombosis—are now often treated without surgery. Instead, specialists known as interventional radiologists use minimally invasive targeted treatments that offer less risk, less pain and less recovery time.

Here's a look at some common health issues and their possible treatments.

•Cancer. Interventional radiologists sometimes use radiofrequency ablation and cryoablation to kill certain tumors without surgery, or they inject high concentrations of chemotherapy into some tumors and nonsurgically block their blood supply to starve them.

•Peripheral arterial disease. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, but a simple test called an ABI performed by an interventional radiologist could detect one of its earliest warning signs, possibly helping prevent stroke or heart attack.

•Deep vein thrombosis. The formation of a blood clot in a deep leg vein can be a serious condition. Catheter-directed thrombolysis is sometimes performed under imaging guidance by interventional radiologists to help rapidly break up clots and restore blood flow within the vein.

•Osteoporosis. Vertebroplasty is a pain treatment for vertebral compression fractures resulting from osteoporosis that fail to respond to conventional pain therapy. The nonsurgical treatment performed by an interventional radiologist stabilizes the collapsed vertebra with medical-grade bone cement.

•Chronic pelvic pain. The pain is sometimes due to hardto-detect varicose veins in the pelvic area, which can often be treated with a minimally invasive procedure.

•Uterine fibroids. Uterine fibroids, common noncancerous growths that develop in the muscular wall of the uterus, can often be treated with uterine fibroid embolization, a widely available nonsurgical option that blocks the blood flow to the fibroid tumor, causing symptoms to subside.

•Varicose veins. Varicose veins are prominent veins that become elongated, ropelike, bulged and thickened. Interventional radiologists can treat them nonsurgically by sealing the faulty vein closed.

For more information and to find a local interventional radiologist, visit the Society of Interventional Radiology website at www.SIRweb.org.

This story provided by North American Precis Syndicate Inc.