Comprehensive Palliative Musculoskeletal Interventional Radiology Care for Patients with Cancer.

Substantial advances in percutaneous image-guided minimally invasive musculoskeletal oncologic interventions offer a robust armamentarium for interventional radiologists for management of cancer. The authors outline the most recent advances in such interventions and the role of interventional radiologists in managing cancer in modern-era practice. Percutaneous minimally invasive musculoskeletal interventions including thermal ablation, cementation with or without osseous reinforcement by implants, osteosynthesis, neurolysis, and embolization, as well as palliative injections, have been successfully used by interventional radiologists to achieve durable, timely, safe, effective palliation in a multidisciplinary setting and have been progressively incorporated into the management paradigm for patients with cancer with musculoskeletal involvement. Familiarity with the described interventions and implementation of procedural safety measures, combined with integration of these procedures into clinical practice with the support of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the American College of Radiology, as well as continued technologic advances in procedural equipment design, will further enhance the role of interventional radiologists in cancer management. ©RSNA, 2022.

Tanzania IR Initiative: Training the First Generation of Interventional Radiologists.

Despite a population of nearly 60 million, there is currently not a single interventional radiologist in Tanzania. Based on an Interventional Radiology (IR) Readiness Assessment, the key obstacles to establishing IR in Tanzania are the lack of training opportunities and limited availability of disposable equipment. An IR training program was designed and initiated, which relies on US-based volunteer teams of IR physicians, nurses, and technologists to locally train radiology residents, nurses, and technologists. Preliminary results support this strategy for addressing the lack of training opportunities and provide a model for introducing IR to other resource-limited settings.

CT-guided cryoablation for palliation of secondary trigeminal neuralgia from head and neck malignancy.

BACKGROUND: Facial pain is a common presentation secondary to tumoral invasion, rendering an individual unable to perform basic activities such as eating and talking. Cryotherapy may be appropriate in patients seeking immediate pain relief for trigeminal neuralgia (TN) near the end of life with its minimal invasiveness and procedural morbidity. While cryosurgery has been effectively demonstrated in the treatment of primary TN, this study is unique as it is the first documented use of CT guidance and treatment of secondary TN using percutaneous cryoablation. AIM: To perform and report experience with CT-guided percutaneous cryoablation, a palliative treatment for TN secondary to recurrent invasive head and neck carcinoma, in patients previously treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and/or surgery with the goal of improving functional status and quality of life. METHODS: Palliative cryoablation procedures performed under CT guidance on recurrent head and neck malignancy between September 2010 and June 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. The procedure was performed under general anesthesia or conscious sedation. For each patient, 1-2 cryoprobes were placed in the tumor and two or four freeze-thaw cycles were performed. Patients were evaluated for facial pain relief immediately after treatment by telephone follow-up. RESULTS: Three patients underwent treatment for three masses using CT-guided percutaneous cryoablation. On imaging, technical success was achieved in all cases with hypodense ice formation encompassing symptomatic lesions on the CT scan. No procedural complications were encountered with post-procedure pain relief and reduction in required pain medication noted in all patients. One patient had 1 month of pain relief before the symptoms returned. CONCLUSION: CT-guided percutaneous cryoablation is an efficient minimally invasive method for the palliative treatment of TN secondary to recurrent invasive head and neck carcinoma as a result of direct tumoral invasion of the extracranial divisions of the trigeminal nerve. Patients meeting the therapeutic criteria of individuals treated for musculoskeletal metastatic lesions may benefit from this treatment. The results suggest it may not currently be a curative technique as one patient's symptoms returned, but it could prove useful as an adjunct to current palliative therapies with minimal invasiveness and procedural morbidity, especially in patients seeking pain palliation, improved functional status and improved quality of life near the end of life.