Glossary
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Acute: Medical term used to describe a symptom or disease that is new. Acute is generally considered 1-7 days old.
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Angiogram: Invasive radiology test in which a catheter is directed up an artery, typically from the right groin, and contrast injected during x-ray. This allows us to define the size and flow in the artery and is often used prior to treatment for blockage. A “heart cath” is a type of angiogram of the heart vessels which cardiologists perform.
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Angioplasty & Stenting: In this technique, the interventional radiologist inserts a very small balloon attached to a thin catheter into a blood vessel through a small nick in the skin. The catheter is threaded under X-ray guidance to the site of the blocked artery. The balloon is inflated to open the artery. Sometimes, a small metal scaffold, called a stent, is inserted to keep the blood vessel open.Balloon angioplasty and stenting have generally replaced open surgery as the first-line treatment because randomized trials have shown interventional therapy to be as effective as surgery for many arterial occlusions. In the past seven to ten years, a very large clinical experience in centers around the world has shown that stenting and angioplasty are preferred as a first-line treatment for more and more processes throughout the body
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Atherosclerosis – Hardening of the Arteries: Atherosclerosis, or "hardening of the arteries," occurs when cholesterol and scar tissue build up, forming a substance called plaque inside the arteries that narrows and clogs the arteries, causing decreased blood flow. Because atherosclerosis is a systemic disease, people are likely to have blocked arteries in multiple areas of the body. These people are at increased risk for heart disease, aortic aneurysm, peripheral arterial disease, stroke, renal hypertension and kidney failure.
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Chronic: Medical term used to describe a symptom or disease that has been present for a longer time. Chronic is generally considered 1-2 months old.
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Fistulogram: A procedure in which contrast is injected into an Arteriovenous fistula or graft to evaluate the flow for dialysis.
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Graft: A synthetic, man-made, vessel often used for dialysis AV fistulas when there are no remaining veins available to make a AV fistula from. Grafts are also used in arterial bypasses procedures to connect two arteries that have an occlusion between them.
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Hyperkalemia: Elevated blood levels of potassium, often caused by renal failure and/or lack of dialysis. The kidneys excrete the potassium and patients with kidney disease build up potassium in their blood. Mildly elevated potassium is relatively safe, but when very high can cause heart arrhythmias and can be life threatening. Anesthesia is considered unsafe when potassium is very high.
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Hysterectomy: Surgical removal of the uterus; can be performed with or without the removal of the ovaries (oophorectomy).
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Kyphoplasty: A procedure, very similar to vertebroplasty, performed by surgeons or interventional radiologists to treat vertebral compression fractures. Kyphoplasty involves a needle being placed into the vertebral body and then deployment of a small balloon in the bone to make a pocket for the cement that is then injected. The balloon deployment is the only major difference in Kyphoplasty and Vertebroplasty. Currently, studies suggest the procedures are equivalent. At FIS we typically perform vertebroplasty as it is cheaper for the patient and hospital.
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Palliative: A treatment aimed to decrease pain/symptoms and prolong a patient’s life expectancy. Systemic chemotherapy is considered palliative. Chemoembolization, Radioembolization and Ablation can be curative or palliative depending on the tumor size and type.
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Pelvic and Transvaginal Ultrasound: Not effective in the diagnosis of pelvic congestion syndrome as these exams are more focused on the uterus and ovaries and is performed lying flat. Although the varices can be visualized on ultrasound, the degree of dilation and number of veins is more difficult to grade than with venography or MRI.
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Pelvic Venography: Thought to be the most accurate method for diagnosis, a venogram is performed by injecting contract dye in the veins of the pelvic organs to make them visible during an X-ray. To help accuracy of diagnosis, interventional radiologists examine patients on an incline, because the veins decrease in size when a woman is lying flat.
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Stent: Metallic tube that is folded small enough to fit over a small catheter and then opened inside a vein or artery to increase the blood flow. Most stents are made of a special metal called Nitinol, often called memory-metal, as it bends and kinks but tries to return to its shape over many years.
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Stent Graft: Similar to a stent but contains graft material around the metal. In some cases this helps keep the stent open by preventing in-growth of scar around the metal.
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Subacute: Medical term used to describe a symptom or disease that is between acute and chronic. Subacute is generally considered 1 week to 1 month old.
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Temporary or Non-Tunneled Catheters : Similar to the tunneled catheter except the catheter directly crosses the skin into the vein. This allows easier placement and removal, often used if patients need the catheter for a short time (less than 1 week).
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Thrombolysis: Procedure or drug treatment that dissolves (lyse) clot (thrombus). Most commonly performed with tissue plasminogen activator (tPa). This enzyme is naturally occurring in the body and breaks bonds in the clot and causes rapidly lysis.
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Thrombolytic Therapy: This treatment is used if the blockage in an artery is caused by a blood clot. Thrombolytic drugs that dissolve clots are injected through a catheter to eliminate the clot and restore blood flow.
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Tunneled Dialysis Catheter : Catheters all enter the vein, but tunneled catheters transverse 1-2 inches under the skin prior to entering the vein, the catheter exits the skin just below the clavicle (collar bone) on the chest. The tunneled portion of the catheter prevents infection by keeping bacteria from growing along the catheter and into the vein. There is also a cuff on the catheter made of a material that the skin grows into, this anchors the catheter and prevents it from falling out easily. Tunneled catheters can last months to years with proper care.
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Varices: Dilated veins around the intestines/stomach/esophagus that develop in patients with liver disease and portal hypertension. The veins divert blood flow away from the liver in patients with cirrhosis. If they get large enough they can cause life threatening bleeding. Varices can sometimes be banding by endoscopy, in which a camera is inserted in the mouth to the stomach and rubber bands placed around them to block them off.
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Varicose Veins: Dilated superficial (close to the skin) veins that occur due to abnormal valves it the veins. The valves allow blood to flow down the leg with gravity instead of toward the heart. As they dilate they become more visible and painful.
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Venogram: Similar to an angiogram, but instead of injecting contrast into the artery it is injected into the vein.
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Vertebral Compression Fracture (VCF) : A fracture of the supporting portion of the bone in the spine, called the vertebral body. These fractures typically occur in the lower back which is where the spine supports the most weight. VCFs rarely cause a single fracture line across the bone like a fracture of the arm or leg bones. Instead, they cause a complex fracture and crush the bone, causing pain with movement and loss of height.
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