Innovative Services with the Latest
Technologies
The Neuroimaging
team at UT Southwestern offers unique procedures and technologies for both diagnostic
imaging and minimally invasive treatments.
Diagnostic Neuroimaging
Besides
standard neuroradiology (CT and MRI), our services include:
- Angiography: A
catheter is inserted into the arteries feeding the brain or spinal cord to
identify diseased or injured blood vessels or to place treatments for those
blood vessels.
- Diagnostic biopsies: A small sample of tissue, such as percutaneous biopsies in the head and
neck, is taken for examination under a microscope to help confirm a diagnosis.
- Diagnostic myelography: Dye is placed in the spinal sac before an X-ray to show any abnormalities.
- Discography: A special
dye is injected into one or more spinal discs to determine if they are the
source of back pain.
Minimally Invasive Treatments
The Interventional Neuroradiology
Clinic team includes specialists in head and neck radiology, spine radiology,
and magnetic resonance imaging. We use the latest imaging technologies to
conduct more than 3,000 innovative, minimally invasive surgeries annually.
Interventional radiology
physicians can visualize internal organs while performing surgeries with
minimal disruption to a patient’s body and overall functionality. These treatments include:
- Catheter-based procedures to dissolve
blood clots in strokes
- Carotid and cerebral angioplasty and
stenting, which involves placing a small balloon in an artery in the neck or
brain and inflating it to open the artery and placing a stent in the artery to
hold it open
- Cerebral aneurysm coiling using a catheter
threaded through blood vessels to the brain, where soft platinum microcoils are
placed in the aneurysm as a barrier to blood flow that seals off the aneurysm
- Embolization procedures to treat brain
aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations (AVM), and cavernous carotid fistula
- Facet injections to ease back pain
- Kyphoplasty to treat compression fractures
in the spine
- Radiofrequency ablation for tumor
treatment
- Steroid injections for pain management
- Vertebroplasty to help control back pain
and osteoporosis
Research
The Neuroimaging
Program is engaged in wide-ranging research, including patient studies. We also
maintain our own research angiography lab.