Sarasota Memorial Recruits Life-Saving Specialist to Hospital Stroke Team
Few medical emergencies draw a finer line between life and death than stroke. And few physician specialists have greater impact on that line than neuro-interventional radiologists.
There are only about 300 neuro-interventional radiologists in the nation, and Sarasota Memorial recently recruited one to its medical staff. Neuro-interventional Radiologist Nasser Razack, MD, joined Sarasota Memorial in May 2008. Razack and others trained in this new and growing field of medicine use specialized tools and minimally invasive techniques to extract dangerous blood clots in the brain, clear its delicate blood vessels of blockages and repair other cerebrovascular abnormalities. Read more about Dr. Razack on our News Page.
The Neurointerventional Program at Sarasota Memorial provides a complete spectrum of minimally invasive services for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with vascular problems related to the brain and spinal cord.
Neurointerventional Radiology is a relatively new but growing specialty that uses minimally invasive procedures to diagnose and treat disorders of the blood vessels of the spine, neck and head. Working closely with neurologists and neurosurgeons, neurointerventional radiologists use microcatheters, stents, balloons, and similar devices to diagnose/treat aneurysm, vascular formations, clots, strokes, etc.
In the past, certain conditions that would have required open surgery such as aneurysms, vascular malformations, and tumors of the head, brain, neck and spine can now be considered for a minimally invasive treatment using an endovascular approach to reach the problem.
For more information about these services, please call (941) 917-1606.
Interventional Radiology
Interventional Radiology uses X-ray and other imaging techniques to guide narrow tubes (catheters) and other small instruments through blood vessels and other pathways in the body to the site of a problem. This allows our specialized physicians to study and treat a variety of medical disorders without surgery.
Procedures performed by our interventional radiologists are generally less costly and less invasive than traditional surgery. In addition, many of these procedures can be performed on an outpatient basis, eliminating or reducing hospital stays.
Some of the most frequent procedures include:
In this outpatient procedure, a small catheter is placed into a blood vessel, typically at the top of your leg, and then a special contrast agent (dye) is injected that allows an Interventional Radiologist to visualize arteries or veins on the X-ray. This allows diagnosis of certain vascular disorders such as stenosis (narrowing of blood vessel) and blockage of blood vessels. If needed, ballooning of the blood vessel (angioplasty) and/or stent placement (to assist in keeping the vessel open) can be done at this time.
In this outpatient procedure, bone cement is injected through a needle into a fractured vertebra (spine bone), stabilizing the fracture and thereby reducing the back pain associated with this fracture. The vertebral fracture may be a result of osteoporosis, trauma, or metastasis of cancer. This procedure is not for back pain related to spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal).
In this outpatient procedure, tiny particles of plastic are injected through a catheter into the uterine artery, which is accessed by the artery at the top of the leg, to block blood flow to uterine fibroid(s). Fibroids are benign (non-cancerous) tumors in the uterus which may cause heavy or prolonged menstrual periods and pain. By blocking the blood flow to the fibroid(s), the fibroids shrink alleviating the symptoms associated with them.
Cancer-fighting Therapies
New interventional radiology procedures deliver cancer-fighting therapy directly to the site of the tumor:
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