The four-day prestigious 23rd Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (ISVIR); was formally inaugurated by Dr (Smt.) Tamilisai Soundararajan, Hon’ble Governor of Telangana and Hon’ble Lt. Governor of Puducherry; today at Novotel Hotel-HICC, Hyderabad. This Conference, being held from February 9th to 12th, 2023, holds enormous significance for the Society, as it is celebrating its Silver Jubilee this year. The Executive Committee of ISVIR comprising of Dr Suyash Kulkarni, President; Dr Balaji Patel Kola, Vice-President; Dr Ajit K Yadav, Secretary; Dr Bhavesh A. Popat, Treasurer; organized this conference. Over one thousand delegates and faculty from India and abroad are participating in the conference.

Dr (Smt.) Tamilisai Soundararajan speaking after inaugurating the Conference said, Interventional Radiology is an emerging discipline and is the most talked about area in the field of medicine. I have special affinity to radiology, as I was practicing interventional sonology. Though I am a gynecologist, I didn’t choose to practice gynecology or obstetrics, I had my training in sonology. When we diagnosed anomalies, I wanted to study fetal therapy. I went to Canada and underwent training in fetal therapy, during my tenure as Assistant Professor in Ramchandra Medical College, did ample number of interventional procedures of cordocentesis, amniocentesis and others, therefore despite my busy schedule I wanted to come to this Conference. Though I became a gynecologist, my ambition was to be a radiologist. I missed the opportunity, but my daughter is a radiologist, so I am still one among your family. A specialty which is growing every second is Interventional radiology, what was practiced or studied yesterday becomes redundant today in Interventional Radiology. Interventional radiology is making rapid advances be it interventional oriented or AI oriented, robotic oriented. Earlier radiology was considered as an image specialty, now it has evolved into a interventional specialty and now it has gone into histological level. In this busy world patients don’t want to be in hospital for more number of days, don’t want scars in body, don’t want to suffer in a hospital for long, so you are specialists who are much sought after for fast and precise procedures. When we mention surgery to a patient and convey the number of hospital days, they refuse to undergo treatment. These advances help us to treat the patient efficiently, therefore it is the most needed specialty. When we diagnosed ovarian cysts and suggested surgery, most patients refused to undergo, but after we started practicing interventional sonology, I could save several patients. I request all doctors to look after your health, that’s when you can look after others.       

Interventional Radiology is the most promising and evolving specialty, transforming medical care through the minimally invasive procedures, for most of the simplest and complex ailments needing the traditional critical and life-threatening surgeries. The specialty enables speedy recovery and quick return to regular routine of patients. There are over 1300 Interventional Radiology specialists in the country. Over a thousand delegates from India and abroad are attending the Conference. The Society commenced its operations with 28 founder members two and half decades ago and has over 1300 members currently.

Dr Suyash Kulkarni speaking on the occasion said, this year ISVIR is celebrating its silver jubilee. Our founder members had the vision to develop and propagate interventional radiology in India and today we are witnessing the exponential growth of Interventional radiology across the country to the extent that all hospitals and institutions claiming to provide comprehensive care, have Intervention radiology as an integral part. We are working towards several collaborations with international societies and with other specialties like gastro surgery and oncology. As a Society we are stressing on developing and promoting indigenous devices under the principle of make in India, to reduce the burden on the patient and make Interventional radiology cost effective. On the academic side we are involved in developing various guidelines and SOPs, to ensure safety of patients from the procedures.

Interventional Radiology, a subspecialty of radiology, uses image guidance to perform minimally invasive procedures. Some of these procedures are done for purely diagnostic purposes like Angiography, while others are done for treating patients. Improvements in imaging techniques and their wider availability over a period of time, played a major part in the growth of IR in India. The annual number of procedures performed countrywide has grown from under 5,000 in 1999 to more than a lakh in the last year. The number of centres performing these procedures has grown exponentially from 8 institutions at the time of inception of the Indian society to over 500 today.

The Indian Vascular and Interventional Radiology professionals perform state-of-the-art techniques on par with the best Centers in the world, participate in the cutting edge experimental and clinical research. The Interventional Radiology techniques include cardiovascular, hepato-biliary, Genito-urinary, neurological, abdominal and musculoskeletal systems.

As Interventional Radiology is a relatively new specialty, awareness among patients is dismally low, despite its overwhelming benefits. This lack of awareness about Interventional Radiology is leading to patients opt for conventional, often complex surgeries, despite the access for friendly minimally invasive treatments from Interventional radiology for patients. Now there are multiple interventional radiology clinics across India. every corporate and government hospitals have interventional radiology departments. Patient can now directly consult interventional radiologists for non-surgical minimally invasive treatments of their ailments.

Now interventional radiology super specialty qualifications like D.M, Dr NB, is recognized and approved by national medical council and are available at major hospitals of India.

The Conference will deliberate on New Innovations and Research Topics, Artificial Intelligence in Interventional Radiology, Robotic Interventional Radiology, Advancement in Cancer Care. Several Academic Sessions and Handson Workshops will be hosted during the Conference for Training of younger Interventional Radiologists.

Some of the interesting and futuristic topics being deliberated at the Conference are newer embolization techniques like prostatic artery embolization for benign prostate hypertrophy and genicular artery embolization for osteoarthritis of knee. Both these procedures can be availed to avoid surgeries. Evolving IR and New Frontiers to expand – Collaborate with AI; AR & VR in IR practice and education; IR- The Indian Perspective; Expanding IR in rural places; Public awareness/Social Media of IR; Women in IR; Why women are underrepresented in IR; Interventional; Work life balance for women in IR; What can be done to make IR as gender equitable. Dr Balaji Patel Kola from apollo Hospitals; Dr Ram Murthy, NIMMS; Dr Jagadeesh Rampal from AIG Prominent Doctors from Hyderabad.