Percutaneous ablation is a type of treatment using either heat or cold to destroy cancer cells. During ablation, an electrode (probe) is used to target cancer cells. The heat or cold effect produced by the probe heats or cool cancer cells and destroys them. This procedure is particularly effective in treating some liver, lung and kidney tumours that are difficult to reach or cannot be treated with conventional surgery.

The doctor puts a small filter into the inferior vena cava (IVC). This is a large vein in your abdomen. The filter catches blood clots that may go into your lungs.

The doctor puts a small needle into almost any part of the body, guided by imaging techniques, to take a tissue biopsy. This type of biopsy can give a diagnosis without surgery. An example of this procedure is called the needle breast biopsy.

The doctor puts a catheter into a blood vessel to remove a foreign body in the vessel.

The doctor puts a feeding tube into the stomach if you can’t take food by mouth.

The doctor puts a substance through a catheter into a blood vessel to stop blood flow through that vessel. This can be done to control bleeding or treat pseudoaneurysm or aneurysm.

Read about implantable ports (portacath or subcutaneous port) here

Uterine artery embolisation or UAE is now a well established minimally invasive treatment option for women with uterine fibroids and adenomyosis. The procedures involve using particles to block the blood vessels that provide blood flow to the fibroid or adenomyosis in the uterus. The particles are guided through a tiny tube inserted by an Interventional Radiologist via the patient’s groin artery. With the blood supply cut off, the fibroids or adenomyosis will shrink. More information can be found on our website, www.irwellington.co.nz

Prostate artery embolisation or PAE is a very new treatment which is gaining wide recognition both in the UK and around the world as a viable alternative to traditional surgery for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Several completed and ongoing research trials have shown outcomes from PAE which are superior to drug treatment and often as good as surgery whilst the complication rate is lower than surgery. If you are interested in seeing whether PAE is suitable in your case, we can recommend local Urology Consultant colleagues, with whom we work closely in our PAE programme, to see you to ensure it is the right treatment for you. The PAE procedure is done in an Interventional Radiology suite under local rather than general anaesthesia thus improving recovery times. It is a highly technical imaging based minimally invasive ‘pin-hole’ procedure. It takes around 2 hours but usually you can go home on the same day. It is normally pain free and you are transferred to the recovery ward afterwards.

A varicocele is a common benign cause of a swelling or lump in the scrotum; it is an abnormal enlargement of the veins around the testicle. These veins drain blood from the testicles back to the heart. The vessels originate in the abdomen and course down through the groin as part of the spermatic cord on their way to the testis. Treatment is usually undertaken for two main reasons; persistent symptoms troubling the patient or to assist in treatment of infertility. One of the treatment options is embolisation of the gonadal vein. This is done by an Interventional Radiologist as a day case under local anaesthetic. It is minimally invasive, where a small catheter is inserted in the groin vein and via this access the gonadal vein is embolised using either coils or glue. Recovery period is quick. Patients can expect to resume their full range of normal activities the following day.