Controversies in peripheral vascular intervention

Although many diagnostic and therapeutic angiographic and vascular interventional procedures were established by radiologists, recent data suggest that many are now performed solely by cardiologists or other nonradiologist specialists. In a review of survey results, the author addresses the issue of who should be performing peripheral vascular interventions. With the number of peripheral vascular interventions increasing every year, interventional radiologists should strive to maintain a strong position in the performance of these procedures in order to retain a significant share of referrals. The author suggests that the subspecialty of interventional radiology will be strengthened if dedicated, fully trained cardiovascular interventional radiologists are willing to be more involved in the admission and long-term care of patients. Increased cooperation among specialists, more involvement in development of instrumentation and techniques, and establishment of ethical marketing strategies are also suggested as effective measures for sustaining the subspecialty and improving patient care.