Interventional radiology in a palliative care setting

Interventional radiology is becoming both more common and more complex. It is tending to replace many conventional surgical procedures because it is less costly and also carries low rates of morbidity and mortality. A minority of patients with solid tumours will develop conditions that are amenable to improvement with these techniques, especially obstruction of the urinary or biliary tracts, or of the oesophagus. This paper describes these procedures, and also discusses situations in which this kind of intervention is appropriate. In addition to the relief of obstruction of a hollow viscus, various techniques are being developed to allow percutaneous tumour ablation; it is likely that these will become more widespread in the future.