Political trends in vascular and interventional radiology: a randomized survey

There is a trend in the United States toward the performance of vascular and interventional radiology procedures by nonradiologists. A survey was conducted of 2.069 U.S. radiologists to define better the current status of and gather opinions on the future of vascular and interventional radiology. A total of 715 (35%) completed questionnaires were returned. Cross tabulations among subgroups of respondents were performed to address key issues. The median proportion of time spent in the performance of vascular and interventional radiology was 10%, and 51.5% of the radiologists surveyed were in groups that included a fellowship-trained interventional radiologist. More than half (54.4%) of the radiologists indicated that nonradiologists have expressed interest in performing vascular and interventional techniques. According to 13.4% of the radiologists surveyed, cardiologists performed at least some peripheral angiography or angioplasty. The vast majority of radiologists (96.8%) did not want other specialties to assume vascular and interventional radiology procedures, but 16.8% believed these procedures will eventually be lost to other specialties. The results indicate that vascular and interventional radiology is being infringed on to a relatively large degree by other specialties.