Interventional Radiologists in Albuquerque and Roswell, NM
At Lovelace Medical Center, our highly skilled team of interventional radiologists provide comprehensive services to diagnose and treat a wide range of conditions. Interventional radiology (IR) is a medical specialty that uses imaging technologies such as X-rays, CT scans, MRI, and ultrasound to guide minimally invasive surgical procedures. These procedures are typically performed through smaller incisions, allowing for targeted treatment with less risk, pain, and recovery time compared to traditional surgery. Experience the benefits of advanced care and a faster path to recovery with our dedicated interventional radiology team at Lovelace Medical Center.
Conditions we treat with interventional radiology
We provide minimally invasive interventional radiology procedures to treat the following conditions:
- Blood clots: A blood clot is a semi-solid mass of coagulated blood that forms in an artery or vein, and decreases or stops blood from flowing through a blood vessel. Once these clots form, they can travel to other parts of your body and cause harm to vital organs. Risk factors for blood clots forming may include smoking, prolonged immobility, surgery, certain heart conditions, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and trauma or local injury.
- Cancers: Cancer is a genetic disease caused by changes to genes that control the way our cells function, grow, and divide. A malignant growth (tumor) results from uncontrolled cellular mitosis where the body’s cells divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues. There are more than 100 types of known cancer, usually named for the organs or tissues where the cancer originates.
- Deep vein thrombosis: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) occurs when a blood clot forms in one or more of the veins in the body. The blood clots of DVT can be caused by anything that prevents blood from circulating or clotting normally, such as injury to a vein, surgery, certain medications, and limited movement.
- Enlarged, noncancerous prostate glands: Prostate artery embolization (PAE) is a new treatment option for men with enlarged prostate glands that are noncancerous. In order to relieve the symptoms of PAE, a catheter is placed in the prostate artery and beads are injected to block off arteries to the prostate. This can help men who are experiencing trouble urinating and pain with urination. Following the procedure, men can be freed of symptoms within days or weeks.
- Fibroids: Fibroids are abnormal growths of tissue that develop in or on a woman’s uterus. They are the most frequently seen tumors of the female reproductive system and are typically benign, or noncancerous. Most women do not report symptoms, but those that do experience heavy menstrual bleeding, prolonged menstrual periods, pelvic pressure or pain, frequent urination, backache, or leg pain. By inserting a catheter directly into the arteries that feed the fibroids and injecting beads to block the blood supply, we can ease symptoms and bleeding.
- Pain: For an alternative to pain relief, injections directly to the location can be more effective than oral medication. Typically, a steroid medication is injected around the nerves to deliver a powerful anti-inflammatory to the area that is the source of pain in order to calm nerve pain.
- Pelvic congestion syndrome: Pelvic congestion syndrome is chronic pain caused by an accumulation of blood in the veins in the lower abdomen. The condition is found in women and causes chronic pain, often manifesting as a constant dull ache, which can be aggravated by standing.
- Pulmonary embolism: Pulmonary embolism is a serious complication associated with deep vein thrombosis (DVT). A pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood vessel in the lungs becomes blocked by a blood clot that travels to the lung from another part of the body.
- Uterine fibroid tumors: Uterine artery embolization (UAE) is used to treat fibroid tumors of the uterus. Fibroid tumors can cause heavy menstrual bleeding, pain, and pressure on the bladder or bowel. Interventional radiologists use a catheter to deliver small particles that block the blood supply to the fibroid in the uterus, causing them to shrink and symptoms to diminish.
- Varicoceles: Varicoceles are a common abnormality of enlarged veins found in the scrotum and are similar to varicose veins. The enlargement of these veins may develop as a result of poorly functioning valves that are normally found in veins or from compression of a vein by a nearby structure. Varicoceles often produce no symptoms, but can cause low sperm production and decreased sperm quality, leading to infertility.
- Vertebral fractures: A vertebral compression fracture occurs when the block-like part of an individual vertebra becomes compressed due to osteoporosis, trauma, or diseases affecting bone. This compression fracture can cause pain in the back or neck, numbness, tingling, and weakness in the extremities or a hunched-forward posture. A vertebroplasty involves the injection of cement into the spinal fracture to stabilize the bone and help alleviate pain.
Our interventional radiologists also offer fine needle biopsy, a procedure used to obtain a sample of cells from tissue or fluid samples from bones, muscles, or other organs such as the liver or lungs for the purpose of further testing. For more information about our services, or to schedule an appointment, please call 505-727-8255.
IR treatments for cancer
The interventional radiology team plays a key role in partnering with the Lovelace Cancer Center to offer our patients comprehensive cancer care. Guided by a variety of imaging tools, our interventional radiologists are able to provide targeted, minimally invasive treatment directly to tumors. This can be accomplished by inserting a needle directly into the tumor and administering either heat or cold energy to burn or freeze tumors.
We can also inject high doses of chemotherapy or radiation directly into the tumor which can offer an alternative for pain relief, and ultimately shorten the recovery time and lower the chance of complications. These procedures are most often done on an outpatient basis and usually do not require a hospital stay.
We treat the following types of cancer:
Bone cancers
Using interventional radiology, we treat:
- Blood cancers: Some bone cancers begin forming in the blood-creating cells known as bone marrow. The most common bone marrow cancers are multiple myeloma and leukemia.
- Bone cancer: Sarcomas are tumors found in the bone itself and start in bone, muscle, fibrous tissue, blood vessels, fat tissues, and tissue.
- Bone metastases: Often, bone cancer is diagnosed because the cancer has originated in another part of the body and spread to the bones. This can occur with many different types of advanced cancer, such as breast cancer, lung cancer, and prostate cancer.
- Noncancerous bone tumors: Some tumors that start in the bone are benign and do not spread to other tissues and organs. These tumors are usually not considered life-threatening and can often be removed with surgery or tumor ablation.
Kidney cancer
The kidney’s main job is to filter the blood coming in from the renal arteries to remove excess water, salt, and waste products. The kidneys also help control blood pressure and ensure the body has enough red blood cells. Kidney cancer, or renal cancer, is a disease that first begins by forming a tumor in the lining of tiny tubes within the kidney.
Kidney cancer ablation is performed through a tiny incision in the patient’s back, allowing direct access to the tumor. The physician then uses a specially-designed needle to provide extreme cold or extreme heat to the tumor site.
Liver cancer
Benign liver tumors typically do not grow into nearby tissue or spread to distant parts of the body, but they can grow large enough to cause problems. These tumors usually start in the blood vessels and can typically be removed with surgery or tumor ablation.
Primary liver cancer starts in the liver and either begins as a single tumor that grows larger, or as multiple small nodules throughout the liver. Most of the time, when cancer is found in the liver, it is revealed to have started somewhere else in the body, such as the pancreas, colon, stomach, breast, or lung, and then gradually spreads to the liver.
Our treatment options for liver cancer include:
- Ablation uses energy in the form of extreme heat (microwave alation) or RFA (high radiofrequency energy) to destroy the cancerous cells in the liver. With a specially-designed needle, the physician can pass the energy onto the precise location of the cancer and avoid damage to the normal liver tissue.
- Chemoembolization delivers chemotherapy directly into a tumor via a small catheter through the artery leading to the liver. Bead-like particles loaded with chemotherapy are then released through the catheter directly to the tumor site where they will release the drug slowly over a period of time. By targeting the tumor directly, the patient experiences fewer side effects than that of traditional chemotherapy treatment.
- Radioembolization (Y-90), much like chemoembolization, directly targets treatment to the tumor site by using beads loaded with high-dose radiation. This approach also reduces damage to healthy tissues by targeting the radiation exposure exclusively to the tumor.
Lung cancer
Smoking is the strongest risk factor for lung cancer in the United States. The risk of developing lung cancer increases with the length of time and number of cigarettes smoked. Lung cancer in non-smokers can be caused by exposure to radon, secondhand smoke, air pollution, or other factors. Workplace exposures to asbestos, diesel exhaust, or other chemicals can also cause lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of lung cancer.
An ablation is performed through a tiny incision in the chest, allowing the physician to access the tumor directly. A needle is then used to deliver extreme cold or extreme heat to the tumor site. This focused treatment avoids damage to the normal lung tissue.
Metastatic cancers
Cancer cells can spread locally by moving into nearby normal tissue or regionally, to nearby lymph nodes, tissues or organs. It can also spread to distant parts of the body. When this happens, it’s called metastatic cancer. The most common sites where cancer spreads are the bone, lungs, and liver.
Selective internal radiation therapy
Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT), also known as radioembolization or Y90, is a liver-directed therapy for inoperable liver tumors. SIRT can be combined with modern chemotherapy or administered as monotherapy. SIRT with SIR-Spheres Y90 resin microspheres offers patients an opportunity to access radiotherapy for inoperable primary and secondary liver tumors whilst sparing normal liver parenchyma.
Treatment goals for Y90 include increasing the time to progression, extending overall survival rates, potentially downsizing or downstaging tumors for liver resection, ablation or transplantation, and providing relief of symptoms.
BiPlane imaging
Unlike major surgical procedures, interventional radiology treatments are done through one or more small incisions with minimal pain and a shorter recovery time. The interventional radiology team can use the BiPlane for image guidance during cancer treatment. A long needle is inserted directly into the tumor site and delivers either heat or cold energy to burn or freeze a tumor.
Another treatment option creates a pinhole incision in the groin or wrist where a catheter is then inserted to deliver high doses of chemotherapy or radiation directly to the tumor site. Our IR team works closely with the oncologists at Lovelace Cancer Center to treat patients with various tumors, such as tumors of the liver, kidney, bone, soft tissue, and lungs, or tumors that have traveled to the liver from somewhere else in the body.
PET/CT scans
We offer the latest imaging technology and advanced functionally in our positron emission tomography (PET) and computerized tomography (CT) imaging capabilities. Through the power of hybrid imaging, we can enable our physicians more accuracy to detect, diagnose and treat various diseases. With the Siemens PET/CT scanner, we can follow your progress during and after treatment to ensure therapeutic efficacy.