Interventional Radiology in the Biliary Tree, Liver, and Pancreas

Interventional radiology offers the opportunity to perform several diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, with the advantage of a mini-invasive percutaneous approach. Many vascular procedures can be performed, once a transarterial or transvenous access is obtained. Biliary interventions are usually performed to treat bile duct strictures or to reconstitute biliary drainage after major surgical interventions complicated by bile duct damage. Hepatic transvenous procedures offer the opportunity to efficiently treat portal hypertension, one of the major cirrhosis-related problems. Oncologic patients can be accurately diagnosed through ultrasound-guided or computed tomography-guided acquisition of tissue samples (biopsy) or aspirate. Moreover, they can receive a broad spectrum of percutaneous treatments, developed from the application of different physical principles.