“The interventional radiology team has extensive training, offers the newest methods using state-of-the-art equipment and performs the full breadth of procedures patients could need.”
In September, Robin Sherr, 57, developed severe pain and swelling in her left leg. The Bound Brook resident went to the Emergency Department at Somerset Medical Center, where she was diagnosed with a massive blood clot. “It was so painful, I was in tears and could barely stand or walk,” Sherr says. “My left leg was two or three times wider than my right leg all the way from my knee to my groin.”
She was admitted to the hospital and doctors administered medication to help shrink the clot. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. So Pavan Khurana, MD, an interventional radiologist at Somerset Medical Center, performed a surgical procedure to shrink and remove the clot in Sherr’s leg.
“Interventional radiology involves performing minimally invasive procedures on any part of the body while using image-guided technology, such as X-ray or CT scans, in real time,” Dr. Khurana says. “The images allow us to navigate wires, catheters and needles into an exact location within the body, all through a tiny incision.”
As a result, interventional radiology procedures are safer, more precise and have a lower risk for complications than those performed without image guidance. Compared to traditional open surgery, patients also experience less pain, blood loss and much quicker recovery.
For Sherr’s condition, Dr. Khurana performed a procedure known as pharmacomechanical thrombolysis. It involves a combination of clot-busting medication to break up the clot and a special wirelike device to remove it. “I felt immediate relief after the procedure, and the pain hasn’t come back since,” Sherr says.
Interventional radiologists at Somerset Medical Center treat a vast array of conditions in addition to vascular problems like Sherr experienced. Ablation techniques, which use heat or cold to destroy tumors, can treat liver, kidney, bone and lung cancer.
The skilled team also offers fibroid embolization, an alternative to hysterectomy for some women with fibroids. For this therapy, doctors inject particles into the artery that feeds fibroids to kill them, Dr. Khurana says.
“The interventional radiology team has extensive training, offers the newest methods using state-of-the-art equipment and performs the full breadth of procedures patients could need,” Dr. Khurana says.