Appointment
Shaare Zedek Hospital
026555999
026555014
Dr. Jacob Zittoun - ד״ר ג׳קוב זיתון
רדיולוג פולשני
ד״ר ג׳קוב זיתון
רדיולוגיה פול שנית
Interventional radiology
Minimal invasive procedures
What is Interventional Radiology?
Interventional radiology is a medical field that encompasses all minimally invasive interventions performed by radiologists. The interventional radiologist uses all imaging modalities (X-ray, ultrasound, CT, and MRI) to perform procedures and visualize the inside of the patient's body and the interventional equipment in images.
The millimeter-scale resolution allows the use of small equipment that reaches the surgical site without the need for a skin incision, but through simple percutaneous punctures. As a result, it leaves no scars or minimal scarring and is often performed under local anesthesia.
Dr. Jacob Zittoun performs interventional radiology in Jerusalem. The radiological operating room may contain an X-ray machine, in which case it is called an angiography room. With advanced radiographic machines, it is possible to perform a scan called Cone Beam CT (CBCT). Nowadays, these represent the most advanced technology in interventional radiology.
The three main areas of interventional radiology are: endovascular treatments, percutaneous skeletal treatments, and percutaneous oncological treatments.
Imaging equipment at the forefront of innovation
Angiography room: X-ray imaging arch with flat detector
Angio-CT room: X-ray imaging arch with flat detector connected to an invasive scanner
Treatments in interventional radiology
Endovascular Treatments
The radiologist treats blood vessels (artery or vein) from the inside. They puncture a peripheral blood vessel and, using radiological guidance, reach the targeted blood vessel with a catheter. Depending on the pathology, they can either block it ("embolization") or open it ("angioplasty/stenting").
Oncological Treatments
These are radiological treatments for cancer: percutaneous tumor ablation (using heat by radiofrequency or microwave, or cold by cryotherapy), cementoplasty for bony tumors, chemoembolization, or radiofrequency of the bile ducts or urinary tract.
Percutaneous Skeletal Treatments
These are treatments for pain: cementoplasty (injecting cement to stabilize a vertebral fracture or reinforce a weakened painful bone), injections, or percutaneous destruction of benign or malignant tumors.
What is Embolization?
Embolization is the internal blockage of a targeted blood vessel. For venous blood vessels, the goal is to block symptomatic varicose veins. For arterial blood vessels, in an emergency, the aim is to block bleeding blood vessels (life-threatening active bleeding) to stop its blood flow, or in cases of chronic bleeding, to stop the blood loss causing limiting anemia: this is hemostatic embolization.
Beyond hemostasis, the goal is to deprive the blood flow and oxygen supply to the targeted tissue, which can be a benign tumor (prostate adenoma, uterine fibroid) or malignant (solid cancer), to cause its necrosis.
Embolization is performed for a wide range of organs, from the head to the legs (brain, ENT area, chest, liver or spleen, kidneys, prostate, uterus, rectum, or painful joints).