GASTROINTESTINAL AND GENITOURINARY INTERVENTIONS
Baltimore Vascular Care provides a wide spectrum of image-guided procedures on the GI and GU systems in a pleasant, untraditional office-based setting.
Liver Biopsies
Liver biopsies are for the evaluation of liver tissue, which is sometimes required for liver function testing or to diagnose a liver problem that can't be otherwise identified. The sample is obtained using ultrasound guidance with a small biopsy needle, all under moderate or "twilight" sedation.
Renal and Hepatic Cryoablation
Cryoablation refers to the use of very cold temperatures to treat disease. It is a well-established technology for the treatment of many benign and malignant tumors in the kidney and liver. The procedure may be particularly useful for patients with a single kidney or poor kidney function. Very precise targeting and control of freezing allows for efficient destruction of tumor cells while leaving healthy kidney tissue intact and functional.
Gastrostomy/Gastrojejunostomy Tube Placement and Replacements
People with certain medical conditions sometimes require that tubes be placed into the body so that they can receive medications or nutrients directly into the gastrointestinal system. Once, surgery was required to insert these tubes, but today these procedures can be done without surgery by an Interventional Radiologist. Doctors often recommend placing a gastrostomy tube in the stomach for a variety of conditions in which a patient is unable to take sufficient food by mouth. In the procedure, the feeding tube is inserted through a small nick in the skin and into the stomach under X-ray guidance. A gastrojejunostomy allows for direct gastroenteric feeding by having its tip terminate in the beginning of the small intestine.
Nephrostomy and Biliary Drain Replacements
Nephrostomy and biliary drainage are alternatives to surgery. Nephrostomy is a procedure in which a catheter is placed through your skin and into your kidney to drain your urine. X-ray imaging (fluoroscopy) is used to help guide the catheter into exactly the right place to drain your urine. Biliary drainage is performed in the same way as nephrostomy. The catheter is placed into your bile duct to drain your bile. We can replace these tubes for appropriate patients in a pleasant, non-hospital based environment.
TIPSS Revision
Seen most frequently in patients with liver disease such as cirrhosis or hepatitis, portal hypertension is a condition in which the normal flow of blood through the liver is slowed or blocked by scarring or other damage. Patients with the condition are at risk of internal bleeding or the buildup of fluid within the abdomen (ascites). Interventional Radiologists treat portal hypertension without surgery, using a procedure called TIPSS (transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt). The doctor threads a catheter through a small incision in the skin near the neck and guides it to the blocked blood vessels in the liver. Under X-ray guidance, the doctor creates a tunnel in the liver through which the blocked blood can flow. The tunnel is held open by the insertion of a small metal cylinder, called a stent. Although the TIPSS procedure is most appropriately performed in a hospital setting, BVC is well-equipped to help patients monitor TIPSS flow direction and velocities and to treat narrowings with angioplasty and stenting. If you have a prior TIPSS that you feel is malfunctioning, please call BVC for more information.
