Interventional radiology in the developing world: challenges and opportunities

Learning Objectives Learn the financial and intellectual challenges of bringing minimally invasive procedures to the developing world. Learn where to find funding and equipment for humanitarian use. Learn how experiences from the battlefield environment can be applied to remote, underserved areas. Learn how low cost modalities can be used to perform minimally invasive procedures. Background Though the evolution of minimally invasive interventional radiology procedures has allowed these therapies to minimize or obviate the need for morbid, open surgeries, there remain significant obstacles that must be overcome to safely and practically implement these procedures in the developing world. Careful consideration to resource allocation, personnel training, and procedural selection is crucial to maintain a safe and sustainable IR practice in the underserved world. Clinical Findings/Procedure Details This exhibit will introduce strategies for implementing an IR service in developing nations. Financial requirements may be mitigated by a careful needs based analysis and reliance on cost-effective modalities. Alternative and durable training schemes involving long term partnerships with foreign institutions and medical simulation training can be used to overcome the practical and ethical limitations of traditional training methods in the underdeveloped world. IR practice in the austere environment, including in combat, as well as effective mobile health care programs can be used as a framework to establish practices in impoverished nations. Creative implementation of the most basic and relatively inexpensive radiological equipment has made interventional procedures possible in the underserved world; commonly performed procedures in developed nations can be modified as a lower-cost technique with minimal changes in efficacy or safety. Conclusion and/or Teaching Points With the assistance of international humanitarian organizations, careful planning, and innovative techniques, local providers in impoverished nations can have access to the training and equipment necessary to offer life-saving, minimally invasive procedures to underdeveloped countries and make significant medical contributions to the global community.