Dr. Tanveer Spearheads New Radiological Procedures in Pakistan

The Radiology Department strives to provide the most modern diagnostic and interventional modalities available, and is often the first in the country to offer such services. Most recently, the department has begun neurointerventional radiology. It also performed the first brain aneurysm endovascular coiling procedure in Pakistan.

Neurointerventional radiology is a medical specialty dedicated to the treatment of vascular disease involving the central    nervous system using the latest minimally invasive technologies.  Tiny flexible catheters from within blood vessels are used to access vessels in the brain and spinal cord to successfully treat numerous disabling diseases without the need for more invasive and traumatic open neurological surgery.

A second new procedure performed at the University Hospital was endovascular coiling on a brain aneurysm. Brain aneuryms are an abnormal ballooning of an artery, and account for about 20 per cent of all strokes. Left untreated, they can cause major damage to the brain, or death. A common treatment is surgery, in which a section of the skull is removed so that the aneurysm can be clipped to stop the flow of blood. This technique has high morbidity and mortality rates.  However, endovascular coiling, as a minimally invasive procedure, is an excellent alternative to surgery since it avoids the additional stress of recovery from major brain surgery for the patient.

Endovascular treatment involves insertion of a catheter into the femoral artery in the patient's leg, navigating it through the vascular system under X-ray guidance, into the head and into the aneurysm. Tiny platinum coils are then threaded through the catheter and into the aneurysm, obstructing blood flow into the aneurysm and preventing further damage.

In April 2003, Dr. Tanveer ul Haq, Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, successfully carried out the first one-and-a-half-hour life-saving endovascular coiling procedure on a 57-year old female patient under general anaesthesia.  Dr. Tanveer says, "The endovascular coiling procedure offers tremendous benefits to patients, as we can prevent an aneurysm from rupturing."