Greetings
One of the important goals in clinical medicine is to provide advanced treatment that is gentle on patients. There is a demand for drug therapy options with fewer side effects, and for surgical treatment, there is a demand for less invasive and safer methods. In this trend, treatments that directly approach the lesion without making large incisions in the body are rapidly developing, and the endovascular treatment performed at our center is one such method.
Unlike surgical procedures, endovascular treatment is performed by operating specialized instruments from outside the body while making full use of advanced diagnostic imaging techniques such as fluoroscopic images and 3D mapping, without the doctor having to directly touch the affected area. This requires advanced skills and skilled techniques, but at our center, doctors from each department train hard every day, striving to provide patients with minimally invasive and safer treatments.
Director of Intravascular Treatment Center
Atsuhiko Yanagishita
Overview
Intravascular Treatment Center oversees procedures that involve inserting a thin tube called a catheter into a blood vessel, advancing its tip close to the lesion, and delivering specialized instruments or medications to the lesion through the catheter to perform diagnosis and treatment.
The main treatments include dilating narrowed blood vessels, administering medication intensively to the affected area, and hemostatic procedures to stop bleeding. Furthermore, a variety of methods are included, such as the removal of lesions and foreign bodies, and the replacement of areas with impaired function using artificial materials. Similar to endoscopic treatment, these methods are characterized by the fact that some treatments that were previously performed surgically can be carried out with minimal invasiveness. As a result, the physical burden on patients is reduced, and there are benefits such as shorter hospital stays and the ability to perform treatments that previously required hospitalization on an outpatient basis.
Because endovascular treatment targets various organs throughout the body, a wide range of medical departments are involved. Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Cardiology, Cardiovascular Surgery, neurology, Neurosurgery, Transplant Surgery, pediatrics, and Critical Care Department all collaborate to provide care. Furthermore, it requires sophisticated teamwork involving not only physicians, but also nurses, radiological technologists, clinical engineers, medical supplies departments, and administrative staff.
On the one hand, while the burden on patients is reduced, there are also risks unique to endovascular treatment. Therefore, close collaboration and information sharing among various professions, including the medical safety department, are essential. At our center, we regularly hold management meetings with representatives from each clinical department and profession to work on establishing a system aimed at safe and smooth operation.