Anaesthetic considerations for interventional neuroradiology

In the past decade, the neuroradiological diagnosis and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases has undergone significant advances. With the introduction of varying diagnostic and interventional neuroradiological techniques and advances in the materials used for endovascular treatment, increasingly complex diagnostic and therapeutic neuroradiological procedures are being performed on extremely sick patients. As the interventional neuroradiology field expands, the neuroanaesthetist will become more involved in management of patients undergoing neuroradiological procedures. This produces challenges for the neuroanaesthetist, and understanding the anaesthetic implications of the current developments in neuroradiology is important in the management of these patients. This review provides an overview of diagnostic and therapeutic neuroradiological procedures, with special reference interventional neuroradiology, and the anaesthetic management of patients undergoing these procedures.