Cardiovascular and interventional radiology

A symposium of eight short but complete papers giving an overview of interventional radiology is presented. Organized by Dr. William Casarella, this symposium is certainly the most current review of the subject available. This year's cardiovascular section is again heavily weighted toward interventional radiology. Abrams and Doubilet's article on the underutilization of angioplasty is important because it describes the cost effectiveness of this method. Most health planners, right or wrong, have complained about overutilization of diagnostic radiology procedures. In general, the opposite is true for interventional procedures - they are underutilized. If the authors draw the attention of their hospital administrators to these approaches and also produce the data on long-term follow-up for our medical colleagues, interventional radiology may realize its full potential. Articles on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging are beginning to appear and this technique seems to have great potential. An important article, which is the first prospective study comparing lung scintigraphy and pulmonary angiography in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism, supports the increased use of pulmonary angiography. Finally, an article on complications of percutaneous biliary drainage provokes some discussion of its value for routine preoperative use