by Dr Evelyn Ho

Vascular & Interventional Radiology now plays a vital role in most medical & surgical specialties

The new Vascular and Interventional Radiology Centre was officially declared opened on 23rd May 2002 at Subang Jaya Medical Centre by Yang Berhormat Dato’ Chua Jui Meng, Minister of Health Malaysia. Called the VIR Centre in short, the new facility offers patients an alternative treatment option to surgery where appropriate. Located at the ground floor of the South Tower of Subang Jaya Medical Centre, it provides modern, vascular and interventional radiological treatment and investigations for a wide range of medical conditions.  

Constructed and fitted at a cost of nearly RM4 million and headed by a consultant interventional radiologist, the VIR Centre performs a variety of minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in the neurovascular and vascular systems. Although still a relatively new form of treatment in Malaysia and perhaps also the Southeast Asian region as compared to Western developed countries, VIR is gradually playing a vital role in most medical and surgical specialties in this country. 

The interventional radiologist uses minimally invasive diagnostic and treatment techniques guided by imaging machines like the delicate angiography system, CT scan, ultrasound scanners, fluoroscopy machines and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan to see inside the body without surgery.

VIR is a method that involves smaller incisions, usually no bigger than the tip of the lead of the pencil. It is usually less costly, less risky, less painful, and less recovery time required. Using radiological images to guide his procedures, the interventional radiologist inserts thin tubes called catheters and other tiny instruments through the arteries and other pathways of the body to diagnose and treat a wide variety of conditions that once required open surgery. No stitches are required and procedures rarely require general anesthesia. 

Some medical problems where vascular interventional radiology can help are brain haemorrhage, aneurysms, gastrointestinal bleeding, renal artery stenosis, carotid artery stenosis, infertility, spinal arteriovenous malformations, uterine fibroids, urinary bleeding, obstructive uropathy and peripheral vascular disease, among others. 

Procedures performed to treat these problems include embolisation, coil embolisation, glue injection, angioplasty and stenting thrombolysis, fallopian tube recanalisation and percutaneous vertebroplasty.

In conjunction with the launch of the VIR Centre, SJMC organized a symposium on Endovascular and Interventional Neuroradiology (EINR 2002) in collaboration with the College of Radiology, Malaysian Neuroscience Society and supported by the Malaysian Medical Association (Selangor Branch). The 3-day symposium from 23rd to 25th May 2002 was preceded by a Pre-Congress Workshop on gynaecological interventions on 22nd May 2002.

Please Click Here for full report of the EINR symposium