Thoracic Interventional Radiology

Abstract

The interventional radiologist has a significant role in the management of vascular and nonvascular pathologies in the thorax and serves an important role as part of the treatment team by providing expertise in image-guided percutaneous interventions. Interventional radiology procedures of the thorax are a well-established field, with percutaneous transthoracic lung biopsy (PTLB) first described by Dahlgren and Nordenstrom in 1966 (Transthoracic needle biopsy, Year Book, Chicago, 1966). In the diagnosis of thoracic pathologies, percutaneous thoracic biopsy (PTB) of lung, pleural, and mediastinal tissue and cells is comparable in effectiveness to surgical biopsy with reduced morbidity and complications (Duncan et al., Respirology 15:401-12, 2010).