ISVIR national conference highlights the recent advances in treating complex vascular diseases

India’s first indigenously manufactured device for the treatment of vascular diseases to hit the market by 2023

Indian Society of Vascular & Interventional Radiology (ISVIR) recently concluded their national-level midterm conference in Mumbai. This conference saw the participation of hundreds of doctors from every nook and corner of the country.

The conference focused on the recent advances in treating complex diseases affecting the neurovascular and peripheral vascular system and minimally invasive treatment of various.

Dr Suyash Kulkarni, President, ISVIR, mentioned that measures to improve the safety of the patients and the quality of the treatment were discussed in the meeting & brainstorming was done to reduce the cost of treatment to achieve the aim of providing the best quality care at an affordable price.

Dr Chandrashekhara, Joint Secretary, ISVIR & Professor in AIIMS, New Delhi, said that a significant step towards reducing cost is manufacturing the modern devices presently imported indigenously in collaboration with Indian manufacturers.

Dr Hemant Deshmukh, Former Dean, KEM Hospital, supported this cause and added that he, along with Dr Krantikumar Radhod, developed a stent design to effectively reduce the weight of obese patients which has got a US FDA patent.

Dr Vimal Someshwar added that the indigenously manufactured devices for vascular diseases would be available within a year to treat Indian patients at an affordable cost.

Dr Balaji Patel, Vice President of the society, mentioned that with the recent growth of interventional radiology services in India, many patients from middle east countries, African countries and neighbouring countries prefer hospitals in India, where they are assured of quality care at affordable cost along with warm Indian hospitality.

Dr Ajit Yadav, Secretary General, ISVIR, apprised about the activities of ISVIR, which is the national society representing doctors who perform Image-guided therapies for various vascular and non-vascular diseases. It aims to create awareness about different treatments with interventional radiology which are essentially minimally invasive and cause less morbidity to the patients.

At this conference, the need for the availability of expertise for performing interventional radiology procedures was discussed. At present, institutes like KEM Hospital, Tata Memorial Hospital, Sion Hospital & J J Hospital in Mumbai have teaching facilities to train young radiologists interested in interventional radiology. The need to start the DM (Interventional Radiology) and DNB (Interventional Radiology) courses in various institutes were emphasised.

Dr Rajesh Mundhada, Vice President, ISVIR, explained how effective and patient-friendly treatments are available with interventional radiology for treating diseases like varicose veins. As ISVIR society’s commitment toward the community in general health, a health screening camp was arranged on 17^th August 2022 for the traffic police of Mumbai, where diagnosis and treatment were offered to policemen suffering from varicose veins.

A walkathon was also organised at Marine Drive,  with the theme of ‘Walk for Life’, which had a tremendous response with 100s of doctors walking along Marine Drive promoting the importance of regular walking for good health.

Dr Nitin Shetty, Joint Secretary, ISVIR, talked about the role of interventional radiology in cancer treatment. He mentioned tumour ablation, which kills cancer cells using the burning or freezing technique. Because this procedure is minimally invasive, it can be done on a daycare basis. Another interventional radiology technique in cancer treatment is an intra-arterial infusion of chemotherapy through an arterial route. He said that compared to the conventional intravenous (IV) route, this method of administering chemotherapy controls tumours effectively and reduces the systemic side effect significantly. Currently, this treatment method is used for eye cancer in children in whom removal of eye-ball can be avoided in 60 per cent-70 per cent of the children & also in case of liver cancers. Apart from these, interventional radiology can also play a role in improving cancer patient’s quality of life by effectively managing painful symptoms.

Dr Bhavesh Popat, Treasurer, ISVIR, said that this conference had an overwhelming response with the active participation of hundreds of doctors from Kasmir to Kanyakumari with a beautiful blend of academics and social commitment of doctors from the Indian Society of Vascular and interventional radiology.