Interventional Radiology

Our team is involved in care for children and teens with a wide range of conditions, including these.

• Aneurysms

  An aneurysm is a bubble-like wide spot in an artery. It usually develops due to a weakness in the wall of an artery. Doctors usually find an aneurysm when it breaks open and bleeds. Most of the time, aneurysms do not bleed until a person reaches middle age, but sometimes they can bleed in children. Read more.

• Arteriovenous malformations

  Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are tangles of small, abnormal arteries and veins that may occur in the brain or elsewhere in the body. They bleed easily without warning and for no obvious reason. This happens most often in adults from 20 to 40 years old, but sometimes in children. Read more.

• Biliary or liver problems

  Bile, a liquid made in the liver, helps the body digest fats. Bile flows through tiny ducts within the liver into larger ducts that lead to the gallbladder and intestine. Several problems with the bile ducts or liver can block bile flow.

  Portal hypertension, high blood pressure in the vein that brings blood to the liver, happens when a problem with the vein or the liver blocks blood flow. Learn more about our Portal Hypertension Clinic.

• Blood clots

  Blood clots form as part of a healthy process to stop bleeding, and the body dissolves them over time. However, clots can be harmful, even deadly, if they block the flow of blood through a vessel, especially in the lungs, brain or heart. Read more.

• Bone tumors

  Tumors are lumps of tissue that form when cells divide uncontrollably. Most bone tumors are benign (not cancer) and do not spread from their original location, but some are cancerous and need treatment. Even a benign bone tumor can cause problems as it grows. Read more.

• Cancer

  Cancer cells divide uncontrollably and can invade nearby tissues and spread to cause tumors in other parts of the body. Most cancers are treated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery or a combination of these. For some cancers interventional radiologists can provide medicine or other treatment right to the site of a tumor. Read more.

• Kidney failure

  Kidney failure occurs when the kidneys no longer remove wastes from the blood or control salts in the body well enough to support life. Without dialysis (a process to clean the blood outside of the body using a machine) or a kidney transplant, fluid and waste products build up. Read more.

• Renovascular hypertension

  Renovascular hypertension is high blood pressure due to narrowing of the arteries that carry blood to the kidneys (called renal artery stenosis). Read more.

• Venous malformations

  Venous malformations (VMs) are collections of veins that are full of blood but are not used by the body. They grow slowly as your child grows. As your child gets closer to the pre-teen years, a VM may begin to cause pain and swell. Read more. We offer a complete range of treatments for VMs, including an innovative procedure called glue embolization. Learn more.

• Angiography

  Doctors use this X-ray of the arteries (arteriography) or veins (venography) to check for and treat blood vessels that didn’t form properly or that are narrowed, blocked or enlarged. An interventional radiologist, guided by fluoroscopy, inserts a catheter into a blood vessel. They then thread it to the target area and inject dye before taking an X-ray. Treatment may include inserting a balloon or stent to open the blood vessel (angioplasty).

• Dialysis access maintenance

  To provide dialysis for a child with kidney failure, a surgeon must connect a child’s artery and vein. Several problems may decrease blood flow through this connection. An interventional radiologist, guided by fluoroscopy, can insert a catheter to open a narrowed area with a balloon or stent or can dissolve or break up a blood clot.

• Embolization

  Sometimes doctors may need to stop blood flow through an artery or vein. This may be when a child has a brain aneurysm, a vascular malformation or heavy bleeding from an injury. An interventional radiologist, guided by ultrasound and fluoroscopy, inserts a catheter into a blood vessel. They then thread it to the target area and inject a substance to block the flow through the area.

• Radiofrequency ablation

  Radiofrequency ablation uses heat to treat small tumors. This includes benign bone tumors in children. An interventional radiologist, guided by CT, inserts a small probe into the target area. An electrical current heats the tip of the probe, which destroys the tumor.

• Sclerotherapy

  Sclerotherapy is a way to treat blood vessels and lymph vessels that didn’t form properly. An interventional radiologist, guided by ultrasound, uses a needle to inject dye to see the vessel and medicine to shrink the vessel.

• Thrombolysis

  Thrombolysis breaks up blood clots that are limiting or blocking blood flow through an artery or vein. An interventional radiologist, guided by fluoroscopy, inserts a catheter into a blood vessel, threads it to the clot and injects dye in order to see the clot. Then they can inject medicine to dissolve the clot, or they can use a machine to spray the clot with saline to break it up and suction the pieces out.

• Feeding tube and other access tube placement (G-tube, GJ-tube and NJ-tube)

  Some children need to get food, medicine and other treatments to their stomach or intestines through a tube. Some tubes go through their skin into their stomach (G-tube) and possibly their small intestine (GJ-tube). Others go through their nose into their small intestine (NJ-tube) or through their skin into their large intestine (percutaneous cecostomy tube). An interventional radiologist, guided by X-ray or fluoroscopy, can place these tubes.

• Vascular access/line placement

  To make it easier on your child to receive medicine or nutrition into a vein or have blood drawn repeatedly, doctors may place a central line (in the chest) or peripherally inserted central catheter (in the arm or leg). An interventional radiologist, guided by ultrasound and fluoroscopy, can insert these lines through the skin.

We also offer many other services, including biopsy; placement of tubes to drain the chest, abdomen, bile ducts, gallbladder (cholecystostomy), kidneys (nephrostomy) or an abscess; dilatation of bile ducts, the urinary tract or the esophagus; arthrography and joint injections; lumbar puncture; lymphography and thoracic duct embolization; and percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography.