Thoracic Interventional Radiology

Increasingly sophisticated image guidance capabilities and improvements in equipment and techniques have expanded the scope of interventional radiology in the chest. Percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy is routinely performed under fluoroscopic, computed tomographic, or, less commonly, ultrasound guidance for diagnosis of lung, hilar, mediastinal, pleural, and chest wall disease. Transthoracic air and fluid drainage has expanded from simple fluoroscopic-guided pneumothorax evacuation and ultrasound-guided thoracentesis to catheter drainage of complex processes previously managed surgically including empyemas and other pleural fluid collections, drainage of lung and mediastinal abscesses, and percutaneous treatment of aspergilloma.