What I wanted to do is really focus in on physicians, because I feel like we're sometimes not the ones in the forefront in making decisions in how healthcare is going ... and it's not our fault. It's because we kind of weren't taught leadership skills. —Elsie Koh, MD

Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR, speaks with interventional radiologist Elsie Koh, MD, about her physician leadership training company, her experience as chief medical officer (CMO) of a nationwide healthcare provider, and about the new SIR Women in Interventional Radiology (WIR) Section's Dream Big Book Club Program. 

Note: This episode was recorded on  Sept. 11, 2021.

Related resources

• SIR Women in Interventional Radiology (WIR) Section homepage
• WIR Dream Big Book Club Program
• Dr. Koh's leadership training company, LEAD Physician

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While I do understand that there may be this idea out there, that the OBL is some magical place, the truth is that I think the ideal scenario is what I have—which is practicing on both sides of the street, so to speak. Because they each pose their own challenges and they each have their own benefits. —Bret Wiechmann, MD, FSIR

Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR, speaks with interventional radiologist Bret Wiechmann, MD, FSIR, about how he launched his office-based laboratory (OBL), how other IRs might do the same, and the prospects for trainees to enter this space. 

Note: This episode was recorded on  July 20, 2021.

Contact us with your ideas and questions, or read more about about interventional radiology in IR Quarterly magazine or SIR's Patient Center.

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Dialysis, stroke, peripheral arterial disease, oncology, …these affect patients of all races. We know there are health care inequities—Black and Brown patients, and poor patients, uninsured tend to be afflicted more. We can recruit the best and the brightest students across the country and across the world to be part of the greatest specialty in all of medicine—and that’s image-guided medicine.—Vishal Kumar, MD

Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR, speaks with interventional radiologist Vishal Kumar, MD, FSIR, about educating medical students about IR, the importance of fostering diversity, and how the two intersect with the SIR Foundation Grants for the Education of Medical Students (GEMS) Program.

Related resources 

• Learn more about the GEMS Program
• Read "The macro effects of Microaggressions" (IR Quarterly, Spring 2021)

Note: This episode was recorded on  July 29, 2021.

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When we show each other these extreme cases, there's a lot of cheering and high-fiving. That's a really fun part of IR, but that is not what is going to advance the field in the eyes of our referring physicians, or of the public, or of the payers, or of the government.—Daniel Y. Sze, MD, PhD, FSIR

Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR, speaks with interventional radiologist Daniel Y. Sze, MD, PhD, FSIR, about his role as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR), the increasing importance of evidence-based interventional radiology, and the ways an IR can get involved in research and published in the journal.

Related JVIR resources 

• Visit the journal's homepage, jvir.org
• Read Dr. Sze's introductory editorial in the January 2021 issue of JVIR
• Read an IR Quarterly interview with Dr. Sze

Note: This episode was recorded on  June 20, 2021.

SIR thanks Guerbet, LLC, for its support of this episode.

Contact us with your ideas and questions, or read more about about interventional radiology in IR Quarterly magazine or SIR's Patient Center.

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I think we’re really at the tip of the iceberg. I think this is very early—in my mid stage of the career, I will probably not be practicing as this evolves into something that’s the full standard of care in multiple joints. But outside of BPH, this is probably the biggest and probably most impactful change I think we’ll see in the embolization space in the next 10 years.—Sandeep Bagla, MD

Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR, speaks with interventional radiologist Sandeep Bagla, MD, about the prospects for genicular artery embolization to help patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, the state of research in this promising treatment, and how interventional radiologists might get involved.

Related resources from the Society of Interventional Radiology:

• Read Dr. Bagla's paper, "Genicular artery embolization for the treatment of knee pain secondary to osteoarthritis" (Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology,  Dec. 16, 2019)
• Read Dr. Bagla's article, "Genicular artery embolization: The future standard of care for inflammatory conditions" (a special preview of "New Horizons in Interventional Radiology," supplement to IR Quarterly, April 30, 2021)

Note: This episode was recorded on  April 25, 2021.

SIR thanks Guerbet, LLC, for its support of this episode.

Contact us with your ideas and questions, or read more about about interventional radiology in IR Quarterly magazine or SIR's Patient Center.

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The CPT code may have certain required elements, and if you don’t put all of those in the report, you don’t get credit for doing the procedure. Or if the coders go ahead and code it, you could get audited later. So if someone goes to jail for fraudulent coding, you’ll be on the line as well as the coder, as the interventional radiologist—because you are ultimately responsible for what you bill.—Katharine L. Krol, MD, FSIR

Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR, speaks with interventional radiologist Katharine L. Krol, MD, FSIR, about how interventional radiologists can make sure that they’re getting appropriately reimbursed and what SIR has done to fight Medicare cuts.

Related resources from the Society of Interventional Radiology:

• Value of IR white paper
• 2021 Interventional Radiology Coding Update
• Value of IR toolkit
• SIR 2021 annual meeting session (March 22, 2021):
  Standing Up for IR: Conveying our value and moving the field forward

Note: This episode was recorded on  March 13, 2021.

SIR thanks Boston Scientific for its support of this episode.

Contact us with your ideas and questions, or read more about about interventional radiology in IR Quarterly magazine or SIR's Patient Center.

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The idea that we start a little earlier in getting our students acclimated to interventional radiology is going to be so important. And it already has made a difference—I think now, students have a much clearer sense of what it is, at a much earlier stage, than maybe I did. I think it makes a big difference in terms of getting more involvement in our profession.—Derek  L. West, MD, MS

Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR, speaks with interventional radiologist Derek L. West, MD, MS, about the importance of addressing health care disparities, educating medical students on the promise of interventional radiology, and his ongoing research in cancer treatment.

Note: This episode was recorded on  Feb. 7, 2021.

SIR thanks BD for its support of this episode.

Contact us with your ideas and questions, or read more about about interventional radiology in IR Quarterly magazine or SIR's Patient Center.

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I guess my take-home point is that by no means is staffing for a stroke program a small undertaking, so it really is important to have the support from the hospital as well as other medical specialties when developing the interventional stroke program ... which we’re very fortunate we have. —Eric  A. Wang, MD, FSIR

Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR, speaks with interventional radiologist Eric A. Wang, MD, FSIR, about how he got involved in ischemic stroke care, the specialized training other IRs need to do the same, and how the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) supports the IR community in this important effort.

Note: This episode was recorded on  Jan. 31, 2021.

Related resources:

• SIR training guidelines 
• Stroke roundtable: Opportunities and challenges for IRs performing endovascular thrombectomies for stroke
• SIR 2019 on-demand stroke course 
  
  

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At the very beginning of the pandemic, there was a big outpouring of support through social media outlets and other avenues online between training programs throughout the country. So it was kind of almost a national level of collaboration for continuing access to training in a way.  It will be good to see how we continue to use it in the coming year.   —Jason Fisher, MD

In a special year-end review, Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR, and the Kinked Wire team (Editor Jaimin Shah, MD; Production Manager Jason Fisher, MD; and SIR Director of Publications Brian Haefs) discuss the top stories impacting interventional radiology in 2020:

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Racial inequity and health care disparities
• Wellness and burnout
• Virtual SIR 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting
• And more

The team concludes with a look ahead to what may come in 2021.

Note: This episode was recorded on Dec. 24, 2020.

Contact us with your ideas and questions, or read more about about interventional radiology in IR Quarterly magazine or SIR's Patient Center.

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If you follow good practices—you minimize the patient dose, you wear your protective clothing, you use the pull-down shields and you put the pull-down shields as close to the patient as you can—your exposures are going to be very low.  —Joseph Ring, DO

In recognition of Nov. 8, the International Day of Radiology, Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR, speaks with radiation safety officer Joseph Ring, DO, about radiation safety in interventional radiology, measures IRs should be taking to protect themselves, and what medical students considering a career in interventional radiology should keep in mind.


Note: This episode was recorded on Oct. 20, 2020.


SIR thanks Boston Scientific for its support of this episode.

Contact us with your ideas and questions, or read more about about interventional radiology in IR Quarterly magazine or SIR's Patient Center.

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