Analgosedation in interventional radiology

The increasing complexity of interventional radiology procedures, combined with limited anesthesiology resources, makes it essential for interventional radiologists to independently provide safe and effective sedation and analgesia. To ensure responsible and timely patient care, a structured and comprehensive development of these competencies within interventional radiology is necessary. While established guidelines and training curricula exist in fields like gastroenterology and cardiology, comparable standards are still lacking in German-speaking countries for radiology. This position paper highlights the urgent need to develop a unified curriculum for sedation and pain management tailored to interventional radiology. This curriculum should be integrated into specialist and assistant training programs. Beyond clinical education, the availability of adequate infrastructure, standardized workflows, clear documentation, and emergency protocols are critical for ensuring patient safety. Collaboration with anesthesiology departments, particularly in complex or deep sedation cases, remains indispensable. Sedation performed by radiology teams is not intended to compete with anesthesiology, but rather to augment patient care capacity in a structured and safe manner. Expanding these competencies strengthens the autonomy of interventional radiology, supports the broader trend toward outpatient care, and enables timely, efficient, and comfortable procedures. This represents an important step in establishing interventional radiology as an independent clinical discipline actively involved in patient treatment.

· Growing need for autonomous analgosedation in IR - The increasing complexity of interventional radiology procedures combined with limited anesthesiology capacity makes competent sedation and analgesia performed by the IR team itself essential for timely and patient-centered care.. · International evidence supports safety and feasibility - Multiple guidelines (CIRSE, ASA, ESAIC, RCR) and recent studies - including CT-guided brachytherapy and percutaneous tumor ablation - confirm that non-anesthesiologist-administered sedation can be performed safely and effectively.. · Clear risk stratification and sedation boundaries - Minimal and moderate sedation in ASA I/II patients can be independently performed by trained interventional radiologists; deep sedation remains the domain of anesthesiologists or intensivists. Standardized patient selection and pre-procedural risk assessment are mandatory.. · Infrastructure, training, and documentation as minimum requirements - Standardized operating procedures, continuous monitoring, dedicated sedation personnel, regular simulation-based training, and structured post-procedural care - including a recovery unit and discharge management - are non-negotiable prerequisites.. · Urgent need for binding standards in the DACH region - While internationally established guidelines exist, comparable mandatory curricula and standards for IR are currently absent in German-speaking countries. This position paper provides the first practice-oriented recommendations and calls for the rapid development of competency frameworks within IR departments..

· Minko P, Auer TA, Gebauer B et al. Analgosedation in interventional radiology. Rofo 2026; DOI 10.1055/a-2863-2198.