Formal Outpatient Clinics in Interventional Radiology: An Essential Component of Modern Practice

Interventional Radiology (IR) is a relatively young specialty that has experienced rapid development since Charles Dotter performed the first percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in 1964. Since then, IR has expanded to include a diverse array of minimally invasive image-guided procedures. It was the same Charles Dotter who early on recognized that the Interventional Radiologist must be involved in patient care as a true clinician, not just a skilled mechanic. However, outpatient and periprocedural clinical patient management by IR has remained underdeveloped when compared to the significant procedural advancements seen over the past four decades. We present local Australian health service data reinforcing the value of formal outpatient clinics in delivering adequate patient counselling, improving consent rates prior to the procedure day, and decreasing costly day-of-procedure cancellations and reschedulling.