History

The HUP Interventional Radiology section has long been regarded as a leader in the field of Interventional Radiology. Past section members have included such leaders and early interventional radiology innovators as Gordon McLean and Ernest Ring. Transhepatic Biliary drainage procedures were developed here as well as percutaneous image guided fluid drainage and angioplasty.


Current Staff

Currently, the staff includes Scott Trerotola (Section Chief and international authority on dialysis access procedures), Stan Cope (inventor of the Cope loop catheter, fellow of SCVIR); Michael Soulen (councilor for professional practice of SCVIR, specializing in image guided cancer therapies such as chemoembolization and radio-frequency ablation); Richard Shlanksy-Goldberg who has developed a successful uterine artery embolization program, and David Freiman( angioplasty and stents), the Fellowship Director. The section also includes a number of younger faculty (Timothy Clark, Jeffrey Solomon, Andrew Kwak, Max Itkin and Bill Stavropulos, Catherine Tuite, Aalpen Patel, Jeffrey Mondschein) with active research interests in MRI/MRA, dialysis intervention, and economic outcomes.

Physical Facilities

We currently have five interventional rooms and a small procedure room with a C-arm at HUP. A new nine-bed holding area has recently opened and two additional procedure rooms are planned over the next few years. Ultrasound is currently available in all of the interventional suites. Newly installed Vascular Lab equipment is available for clinical use and training. A digital workstation for reviewing studies such as CT scans and MRIs from other parts of the department is also available in the Interventional Reading Room.
The Fellows have an office with carrels, lockers, desks, and 2 computers.
At the Presbyterian Medical Center there are two rooms, one of which was installed in October 1999. There are also two rooms at the VA, one of which was opened in 2003.
A large medical research library is located adjacent to HUP. All four affiliated hospitals are within easy walking distance of one another, and all lie adjacent to or on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania with all the resources, activities, and facilities that one expects at a world-class research University.

Educational Resources and Conferences

Teaching consists numerous conferences and rounds. Weekly conferences include a didactic lecture, vascular imaging (MRA and CTA), and a combined vascular surgery conference. There are monthly Morbidity and Mortality and Research conferences. Each day we review the previous day's cases so everyone gets to se and learn from all the cases. board rounds where the cases from the previous day are discussed. All fellows participate in research with a mentor within the program and most present one or more papers at SCVIR. Although the main responsibility for the Fellows is patient care, research is an integral part of our program. Preparation of scientific material for presentation at national meetings is expected and is strongly supported by the attending staff and ancillary research personnel. Both clinical and animal research is performed at the University of Pennsylvania. A two suite research area which we will share with Cardiology is currently in the late stages of planning and should be available by March 2002. All fellows also receive a stipend to present at the annual SCVIR meeting. The department reimburses expenses for any conference at which a fellow presents a paper as first author. The section presents several annual CME courses which fellows are encouraged to attend, including one in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square. There is an annual IR section retreat at a resort on the Chesapeake Bay which all attending staff and fellows attend.