Vascular Interventional Radiology

UMass Memorial is home to the region’s largest, most skilled team of interventional radiologists, including providers specializing in vascular issues. We perform nearly 3,400 procedures a year, giving us an exceptional level of expertise. Whether it’s cancer, a blood clot or a chronic condition, we can help you.

Conditions We Treat

Interventional radiologists use real-time imaging and long tubes (catheters) with instruments at the tip to care for issues affecting veins and arteries. These services also enable us to access areas of concern through the blood vessels to assess and treat complex conditions.

Conditions we treat include:

• Blood clots  
• Cancer
• Cysts
• Deep vein thrombosis
• Musculoskeletal joint pain  
• Peripheral vascular disease
• Pulmonary embolism  
• Severe infections
• Uterine fibroids
• Varicocele
• Vascular malformations and hemangiomas   

Vascular Interventional Radiology Procedures We Offer

You undergo procedures in a state-of-the-art interventional radiology suite with the latest real-time 3D image guidance. This facility helps us deliver safe, accurate, high-quality services.

We offer a wide range of diagnostic and treatment therapies.

Diagnostic and sampling procedures:

• Biopsy takes a tissue sample that’s later viewed under a microscope to help diagnose conditions.
• Adrenal vein sampling guides surgeries in patients with certain hormone-secreting conditions.

Drainage and fluid management:

• Aspiration and drain placements drain abscesses, infected gallbladders, bile duct, cysts and other types of abnormal fluid buildups.
• Paracentesis drains fluid from the abdominal cavity.
• Thoracentesis drains fluid from the chest cavity.
• Alfapump placement provides continual fluid removal for large volumes of fluid.

Venous access and vascular devices:

• Central venous access (tunneled catheters and ports) enables long-term IV therapy.
• Inferior vena cava (IVC) filters help prevent pulmonary embolisms.
• Venous stenting opens narrowed veins and helps prevent blockages.
• Thrombolysis dissolves blood clots using medication.
• Thrombectomy removes clots mechanically and opens blood vessels.

Embolization procedures help to: 

• Block the blood supply to and shrink uterine fibroids, prostates and varicoceles.
• Stop acute bleeding (including obstetric, trauma and portal hypertension bleeding).
• Reduce chronic inflammatory joint pain.
• With sclerotherapy, shrink vascular (blood vessel) malformations.

Other vascular interventional procedures include:

• Gastric and gastrojejunal tube placement and maintenance provides access for nutrition, medication or venting.
• Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) creates a pathway that helps reduce portal hypertension (high blood pressure in the vein carrying blood to the liver).
• Nerve block, chemical neurolysis and cryoneurolysis help provide chronic pain relief.

Interventional Oncology

We access cancerous growths through the blood vessels to deliver a range of treatments:

Ablation therapies destroy cancerous tissue using different technologies and methods:

• Radiofrequency ablation uses a high-frequency electrical current.
• Cryoablation uses freezing temperatures.
• Microwave ablation uses heat energy.
• Pulsed electric field therapy uses short bursts of high-frequency electrical energy.

Targeted delivery therapies send medication directly to the blood supply or tumor:

• Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) cuts off blood supply to tumors by injecting them with high doses of chemotherapy.
• Transarterial embolization (TAE) blocks blood vessels to cut off the blood supply to liver, kidney and other tumors without chemotherapy.
• Yttrium-90 delivers tiny radioactive beads directly to inoperable tumors. 

Vascular interventional radiology procedures also include venous access and placing chest ports. These options create lasting access to blood vessels that enable you to receive chemotherapy, liquid nutrition and antibiotics without repeated needle pokes.