CHANDIGARH, January 7: Radiology and MRI scans are no longer mere techniques for diagnosis but are increasingly being used for curative purposes.Dr J.D. Rose, an expert on intervention surgery from England, said that in the past two years, balloon angioplasty - in which the blocked passage of arteries is cleared by inserting an inflatable balloon - has altered the way radiology is viewed. The advent of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has meant that a patient can be treated without exposing him to radiation.Dr Rose was in Chandigarh recently to participate in the 51st Annual Congress of the Indian Radiological and Imaging Association."Intervention Radiology", which implies using radiology along with other intervention techniques for entering inside the human body, now covers almost all parts of the human body including liver, heart, and kidney. Such a procedure implies that patients are discharged from hospitals immediately after the operation and need not remain admitted for post-operative care. "On some occasions, even anesthesia is not required in case of intervention radiology," Dr Rose said.The chairperson of the organising committee of the Congress, Dr Sudha Suri, said that intervention radiology was being practised at the PGI.She added that a corpus fund has been instituted by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) for sponsoring a young Indian radiologist to study in USA. Regarding the usage of tele-radiology, Dr Suri said that attempts would be made to ensure that PGI becomes the focal referral point in the region for consultation of CT Scans and MR scans. Two workshops on intervention radiology were organised today after the conclusion of the conference.
