The department is made up of the following divisions and sections:
Division of Interventional Radiology
Interventional radiologists offer minimally invasive alternatives to surgery for many conditions. Faculty members in our division perform essentially every procedure within the scope of interventional radiology.
At Rush, the Division of Interventional Radiology includes two sections:
Section of Vascular and Interventional Radiology
The vascular and interventional radiology section is staffed by five full-time, fellowship-trained faculty members and one full-time physician assistant. The department is built upon a new concept, the “interventional platform,” where all interventional sections share one floor of the Medical Center's Tower, which opened in 2012.
Our section has an excellent relationship with Rush’s vascular surgery program. This collaborative relationship gives trainees in both departments experience a wide range of experience, including the following:
- Treatment of peripheral arterial disease
- Procedural experience in all aspects of peripheral interventions
- Experience with endovascular repair of abdominal and thoracic aneurysms.
Section of Interventional Oncology
The interventional oncology practice has been growing steadily. The average number of radioembolizations has increased from 12 in 2011 to more than 80 in 2012. We perform a wide variety of interventional oncology procedures, including radioembolization, chemoembolization, cryoablation, radiofrequency ablation and microwave ablation.
Nuclear Medicine
The Section of Nuclear Medicine performs approximately 7,000 nuclear medicine procedures a year, using a wide variety of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques. Imaging equipment includes four state-of-the-art, dual-head SPECT cameras, two dedicated whole-body scanning scintillation cameras, one single head large field of view camera, one portable camera and a dedicated whole body positron emission tomography (PET) scanner. The section has been performing clinical PET examinations using fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose since 1994.
Section of Ultrasonography
The Section of Ultrasonography performs approximately 100 exams per day in inpatient and outpatient imaging facilities and the noninvasive vascular laboratory. The section performs a large volume of vascular, obstetrical and transplant examinations. The section features the latest technology, including a total of 18 ultrasound machines within the inpatient and outpatient facilities, consisting of a mixture of Siemens and GE machines.
Although we are fully integrated with the department's GE PACS, we also have Syngo as our dedicated ultrasound PACS for real-time digital clip storage and display capabilities. Manufacturers use the section as a test site for innovative equipment.
Section of Neuroradiology
The neuroradiology section is a busy, comprehensive imaging service, performing more than 30,000 combined CT and MRI imaging studies annually. We provide all advanced imaging techniques, including MR spectroscopy, MR perfusion, CT perfusion, functional MRI and PET/CT imaging.
The neuroradiology section includes five board-certified neuroradiologists with different subspecialty interests and expertise.